


She Has A Secret

by KMac



Category: Women's Soccer RPF
Genre: F/F
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-10-11
Updated: 2015-12-05
Packaged: 2018-04-25 22:27:32
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 20
Words: 38,469
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4978948
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/KMac/pseuds/KMac
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Emma Hall is a thirteen-year old girl with a dark secret. When she attends a soccer clinic held by Ali Krieger and Ashlyn Harris, her secret is jeopardized. Will Ali and Ashlyn be able to save Emma from the secret that ultimately endangers her life.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

"Emma!," my nanny, Megan, calls up the stairs. "You're going to be late for the first day of clinic!"

"Yeah, okay!" I haphazardly throw my dark hair into a ponytail. I am really not in the mood to go to the soccer clinic. Aside from a ton of homework every night, I have an activity practically every day of the week-ballet, cello, equestrian, lacrosse, soccer, tennis-some nights I am not even able to get to bed until midnight.

"One of these days we're actually going to get you to a place on time," Megan shakes her head as I hurry down the stairs.

"Well....we could skip it? That way you won't have to worry about hurrying through traffic," I suggest. 

"Not a chance," Megan gently pushes me in the direction of the front door. "God-only-knows how much money your parents paid for this clinic. And why wouldn't you go? Two of the world cup winners are holding it . Most kids would give their left kidney for an opportunity like this."

I give her a half-smile as I walk out the door and towards the circular driveway. I would give my left kidney for an afternoon of watching TV and playing on YouTube.

"After clinic I need to go to Julia's house to work on our history project. It's due on Friday and it counts for a quarter of our grade for the semester," I say as I hop into Megan's BMW a few feet away from the front door. It's actually my parents' but they let her use it when she's working. 

"You're going to have to talk to your dad about that." Megan slides into the driver's seat.

My heart stops for a minute. "My dad is picking me up tonight?"

Megan throws me a curious look."Yeah. I have a class at GW and can't pick you up. Is that okay? I thought you would be thrilled to have some time with him since he's always working."

"Yeah, no, that's fine." I say quickly, my heart practically jumping into my throat.

"Okay." Megan smiles. "Get your seatbelt on."

As we weave through Northern Virginia traffic, I find myself starting to panic. My father never picks me up from anything. He's the president of a large defense contractor and is almost always travelling or in meetings. Something must be wrong. 

"So, I read a little about this clinic you are going to." Megan says as she maneuvers the car over into the right lane. "Ashlyn Harris and Ali Krieger are quite impressive."

"Um, yeah," I say absently. 

"Are any of the kids from your team going?" 

"I think so." I take a small bite of my nail, a habit I have when I'm upset or nervous about something. 

"I ran into Lindsay's mother and she said that she was coming." 

I resist a groan. I go to the Potomac School with Lindsay and she is incredibly annoying-very talkative and always trying to one-up people. 

"You will have a great time once you get there." Megan playfully pokes me in the ribs.

A few minutes later we pull up to the sports complex.

"Need me to come in with you?" Megan offers.

"No, it's fine." I shut the door and give her a wave. "Have fun in class and I'll see you tomorrow morning."

She blows me a kiss.

"Emma! Emma!" An unmistakable voice calls from behind. 

"Hey Lindsay," I try to mask the irritation in my voice. Within seconds, she's by my side, curly red hair blowing in the breeze, her face flushed with excitement.

"Can you believe we're doing an eight week soccer clinic with Allie Krieger and Ashlyn Harris!," she gushes." Of course I've met them in person several times. My father has bought me front row tickets to a few of the national team games. And of course we have season tickets to Washington Spirit."

Of course.

"So......." She talks non-stop from the parking lot to the fields behind the soccer complex. It's not until we get to the registration table that she reverts her attention to someone else.

"I'm Lindsay Goldberg, David Goldberg's daughter." She tells the young kid checking people in, in her signature snotty, authoratative tone.

The young man, from what I can tell, is not impressed. /p>

"Emma Hall." I say to the young girl beside him. I'm promptly handed a water bottle, a t-shirt, and a soccer ball. "They are just getting started. You're in Ali Krieger's group."

"Yay!" Lindsay squeals. "We're in the same group.

Awesome.

She practically drags me to where a very pretty brunette is sitting in a circle with 15 or so kids.

"Hi! Welcome!" The brunette flashes us a brilliantly white smile. "I'm Ali Krieger! Have a seat, we are just getting started."

Lindsay quickly releases my hand so that she can squeeze into a spot next to Ali. She ends up practically in her lap. "I don't know if you remember me but I've been to sooooooo many of your games!! Lindsay Goldberg is the name,"  
Lindsay says.

"Nice to have you!" Ali responds in a very genuine tone. I, on the other hand, resist a gag as I plop down beside a girl with stringy blond hair. 

Ali runs through the day's agenda before group warm-up. Lindsay, not surprisingly, hangs unto her every word with her mouth agape. After warm-up, the group transitions into drills-with Lindsay volunteering herself as the squad leader. 

The hours surprisingly go by quickly. Before I know it,we are scrimmaging against Ashlyn Harris' group. I play center forward, probably my best position, and score twice off the other team.

"Hey! It's 'Emma' right?," Ali approaches me as I'm gathering up my things to leave.

"Um...yeah." I stammer, almost dropping the cleats in my hand. Even though I reluctantly came to clinic today, Ali has me admitedly a tad starstruck.

"You did great today." She says. "Do you do any developmental programs around here?"

"No, I usually just play club soccer," I shake my head. "But..."

"I play in a developmental program!" Lindsay appears out of nowhere. "I do it year round. It's amazing! The coaches think that I will be good enough to get called up to the National Team in a few years."

"Wow!" Ali flashes her a brilliant smile.

Lindsay, naturally, doesn't stop at this. After politely listening to her stories, I finally excuse myself. I grab my bag and head towards the parking lot. It doesn't take me long to spot my dad, who is leaning up against his Mercedes with his arms crossed. Even from a distance, I can tell that he's angry.

"Hi dad!" I say cheerfully as I approach the car.

"You're late." He spats. "Clinic ended at 6:30 and you're coming out at 6:35. Do you really think that I have all fucking night to wait around for you?"

My face goes a faint shade of pink. "I'm sorry, dad. Ali Krieger, she plays for the National Team and Washington Spirit, was talking to me and.."

"I don't give a damn who she is. You come out immediately after practice, do you hear me?! "He booms. Fortunately, the parking lot is practically empty, and no one can hear him.

"Okay, dad." Instead of getting into the car, however, I decide to bite the bullet and tell him that I need him to drop me off at Julia's. I know it's going to infuriate him but I would rather be yelled at in a parking lot then in a confined car. 

"Um, dad." I say." I need to be dropped off at Julia's to work on a project. It shouldn't be any trouble really, she just lives down the street from us. It's on our way home. And her parents can drop me back off tonight."

His face tightens. "This is the goddamn problem. You are never prepared for anything and are always doing things at the last minute. Now you expect me to drop you off. You are the most irresponsible, stupid kid I've ever met."

"But,dad,the project is due on Friday and it's only Monday. And we worked on most of it already. We just have to finish some things up."

"Don't you ever fucking talk back to me again!" He gets so close to that his words vibrate my chest. "Get in the fucking car, right now!"

I quickly hurry to the passenger side, tears threatening to spill down my face. Years of practice, however, has taught me to keep them at bay.

"It's enough that I had to pick you up when I have a very important meeting to go to at 8 o'clock tonight. Don't you see how much I do for you and you appreciate none of it ." He continues to fume.

"I'm sorry, dad." I swallow the large lump in my throat that always forms when he starts in on me. 

"It's always you. You're always causing trouble. Your sister never did this." He screams.

Jane, my older sister, has never done anything wrong in his eyes. But then again, she's perfect in just about every way.

"What? You got nothing to say to me?," He roughly grabs my arm.

"No...but ," I fumble. A hot tear rolls down my face and I quickly brush it away with my free hand. 

"You stupid, ungrateful...." He begins to say but a knock on my window stops him. Startled, I look up to see Ali Krieger smiling back at me with my soccer cleats in her hand.

"You left these!" She mouths.

I look over at my dad, who has suddenly let go of my arm, opting instead to plaster a fake smile on his handsome, distinguished face. I slowly roll down the window. 

"Thank..thank you so much," I manage to say as I fervently blink back a new wave of tears. 

"Sure, no problem!," she smiles as she hands me my cleats. "So, I will see you in clinic tomorrow?"

"You sure will!" Dad pipes in happily. "She adores soccer!"

"Yes." I nod, swallowing hard, the lump feeling like it's gotten twenty times larger than before. 

Ali looks at me with a mix of curiosity and worry. "Well, have a good night!," she finally says.

"You too!" Dad gives her a wave as I roll up my window.

As she walks away I only have one thought going through my mind, "How much of it had she heard?"


	2. Chapter 2

"I think the first clinic went great! Don't you think so?" Ashlyn settles into a seat with a pint of beer. She, along with Ali and some of the other clinic coaches, had decided to go out for a celebratory drink.

Ali nodded in agreement. "Yeah, the kids are great! I have one that is a little over the top but she's sweet enough."

"One of your center forwards really has potential." Ashlyn takes a sip of beer. "She must be in a developmental program."

"I started to talk to her about it but the one that is a little over the top kind of busted in on our conversation," Ali laughed. "And, yes, I do agree that she has a lot of potential."

"Wait....the one that is over the top...is she that redheaded girl?" Ashlyn snaps her fingers in recognition. "I spent about 10 minutes listening to how her dad's company sponsored the Washington Spirit two years in a row." 

"That would be the one." Ali smiles but then her face turns slightly serious. "Hey..something happened after clinic that I want to ask your opinion on."

"Shoot." Ashlyn turns slightly to wave at a passerby who has less than subtly snapped a photo of them. 

"So, the center forward that really has potential...Emma is her name...left her cleats on the field after clinic." Ali traces her finger along the edge of the beer glass as she thinks about what she is going to say next. "I thought I could catch her, so I ran them out to the parking lot. When I got out there, I saw her with a man who I think was her dad. He looked really angry. By the time I got to her she was inside the car and he was yelling at her really loudly...I think I even heard him call her 'stupid'. She looked really upset when I gave her the cleats." 

"Okay?"

Ali pauses for a minute. "Something just doesn't seem right. The second he realized that I was standing outside the car, his whole demeanor changed. He let go of her arm and smiled this fake kind of smile. The whole thing maybe me uneasy for some reason."

"I'm not sure where you are going with this one." Ashlyn looks intently at Ali. 

"I'm not sure either." Ali shakes her head slightly. "I just think that maybe he was a little too angry with her. Almost like he was hurting her."

Ashlyn shrugs. "It's probably nothing. Parents...especially parents of teenagers...get angry sometimes. I remember my dad getting really pissed off at me...like all the time. I think it's just a normal part of growing up."

"Yeah...." Ali takes a swig of beer as she thinks on this. "Yeah, you are probably right."

..................................................................................................................................................................................................  
It's after eight before I get home from Julia's. The whole house is dark which means that Mom is working late and Louisa, our housekeeper, has gone home for the night. I breathe a sight if relief. Even though I have a least another hour worth of homework, I will still most likely have the house to myself for several more hours. I promptly grab a Gatorade out of the fridge, change out of my soccer clothes, and climb into my favorite pair of PJs. 

Just as I am cracking open my math book, a least favorite subject, I get a text from Julia:YOU SURE UR OKAY? YOU SEEMED UPSET 2 NIGHT. 

Lying has been second nature to me since I was about six years old so I quickly text back:I'M GOOD. GETTING HIT IN THE FACE WITH A SOCCER BALL THREW ME OFF. THX FOR ASKING THOUGH. 

Less than a minute later, another text: 'KAY. MOM'S WORRIED ABOUT UR LIP. HAS THE SWELLING GONE DOWN?

Even more quickly than the last text, I type: IT'S FINE. STUPID SOCCER BALL! LOL!

A second later, she responds: LOL. NIGHT. C-U TOMORROW.

I put my phone down and get up to look at my lip. Not only has the swelling not gone down but the cut has split open again. Julia's mom had put ice on it when I got to her house but my lip looks three times its normal size. Great. I had told Julia and her mother that I had gotten hit in the face with a soccer ball at clinic, a lie they fully believed, but tomorrow the lie might be trickier to pull off. If Lindsay is around then she is going to know that I am lying. Then what???? She doesn't ever know when to keep her mouth shut. Maybe I should just pretend that I am sick in the morning?

..................................................................................................................................................................................................  
"Emma, I have been your nanny for three years, don't you think I know when you are lying?" Megan stares at me with a rather amused look on her face. 

"C'mon, I never stay home from school!" I beg. "You really expect me to go to school with a ginormous lip? People are going to make fun of me." 

"You got hit in the face with a soccer ball!" Megan pushes a stray hair off my forehead. "Everyone is going to think you're tough and cool!" 

I sigh. It looks like I wasn't going to win this argument so I reluctantly pick up my schoolbag. 

"Besides, don't you have a crush on Lucas Devereaux?," she teases as we walk out the door. "He's a soccer player and I bet that will catch his attention."

Yes, I do like Lucas Devereaux, but at the moment I am too preoccupied with how I am going to pull off this lie at school. With any luck, Lindsay will be absent or too busy telling everyone else about the fab-u-lous clinic she went to last night.

.........................................................................................................................................................................................................  
School, surprisingly goes off without a hitch. Everyone believes my soccer story and Lindsay was not around to call me out. She, as I had semi-predicted, was too preoccupied with telling people how much she had impressed Ali Krieger. And when soccer clinic time comes around, she is still talking about how good she is.

"Did you see how Ali looked at me directly when she said 'You guys are doing great', " Lindsay gushes as we run a warm-up lap around the field. 

"Yeah." I wince as a breeze hits my face, making my lip sting a little. 

"How did you mess up your lip anyway?" Lindsay looks at me with more disgust than concern. 

"Um," I quickly say. "I was walking too fast on our hardwood floors at home and fell."

"Oh," She scrunches up her nose slightly. "So, anyway, my dad told me to really network the next eight weeks so when I try out for the national team in a few years, Ashlyn and Ali will remember me." 

I stifle a laugh. What thirteen year-old uses the word 'network'? I'm not sure I even know what that means.

"Okay, guys, finish up! We have a lot of work to do!" Ali calls out. Both Lindsay and I stop and jog over to where she is at.

"Let's do some stretching and then we are going to work on some new drills." Ali scans the group. She stops when she gets to me. I know she has noticed my lip so I quickly look down at the ground. 

"Oh! Oh!" Lindsay starts jumping in place. "Can I be the first to go in drills? My dad thinks I am an excellent leader."

Everyone is annoyed but no one say anything out of fear of looking like a jerk. I, personally, don't say anything because I don't want to draw attention to myself more than I feel like I already have. 

"Sure, Lindsay but you are going to have to give someone else a chance tomorrow." Ali smiles. 

We all grab our balls and get to work. The first drill is to use all six surfaces of our feet in one motion before passing it to our other foot; Outside. Inside. Laces. Bottom. Toe. Heel. 

"Awesome, guys!" Ali weaves in and out of all the players. When she gets to me she stops. 

I pretend not to see her and concentrate on my foot work. 

"Emma, stop a minute." She says kindly.

I reluctantly stop and look up at her. "Am I doing something wrong?"

"No, no, not at all." She says quickly as she touches my shoulder. "I just noticed your lip. It looks pretty sore and it's bleeding again. Are you okay?"

I quickly brush the back of my hand across my lips. A few splatters of blood splash up unto my hand to which I quickly wipe on my shorts. "No, I'm fine. I was sliding around the hardwood floors at my house last night and fell on my face. Kind of a stupid thing to do."

"Huh. Okay. " She says slowly. I can tell she doesn't believe me so I hold my head up high and look her directly in the eyes, something I do when someone suspects that something isn't right. In second grade a teacher took me aside and asked me why I drew a picture of my dad yelling when all the other kids drew their dads doing fun things with them. I looked her right in the eye and told her that it was a game we played at home-he pretended to be a big, scary monster and I pretended to be scared. In third grade, I looked my teacher right in the eye and told her that I had fallen off my bike, which gave me the bruise on my cheek. In fifth grade, my ballet teacher thought I was anorexic because I never ate the snacks that all the other kids ate before class. I looked her in the eye and told her it was because I ate a late lunch in school. In truth, it was because I was so stressed out at home, that eating made my stomach hurt. 

"So, I should probably get back to the drills?" I finally suggest after a minute of awkward silence.

"Yeah, yeah, of course!" She half-smiles but I can feel her staring after me as I start drilling again.

The rest of the clinic, thank God, goes smoothly. I play center forward in the end scrimmage and manage to score one more goal than yesterday. This didn't please Lindsay, who could barely keep her backline together. Ali didn't necessarily yell at her but was getting a little frustrated with her at the end because Lindsay refused to listen to what she was saying. When clinic ended, Lindsay stomped off the field without saying a word to anyone. So much for networking.

"Awesome job, Emma!" Chloe, a girl from my group, calls out as I peel off my soccer socks.

"Thanks, Chloe!" I smile but then quickly scrunch up my nose as the stench of my socks waft up. Looks like Louisa is going to have her work cut out for her in the laundry department. 

"You really have a lot of talent." Ali sits down beside me.

"Thanks." I quickly shove my socks in my soccer bag and grab a pair of sneakers. Fortunately, Megan had been smart enough to pack me a clean pair of socks.

"So, we never finished our conversation yesterday." She says. "I think you should consider doing some developmental clinics this winter and maybe try out for their team in the spring."

"I don't know..." I pull on a sock. "I have a lot of things going on so I don't know if I have time for all of that."

She looks a little disappointed. "Well, you have a few months to think about it."

"Sure.I will think about it." I assure her as I pull on the other sock.

"Hey, hot shot! Did you take another ball in the face today?" A voice suddenly says from behind me. I tip my head back to see Megan looming above my head, a goofy grin on her face. 

Ali, obviously, has heard this. She looks up at Megan in surprise then back at me. She says nothing but does rise quickly to her feet to extend her right hand. "Hi! I'm Ali, Emma's coach for this clinic."

"Nice to meet you." Megan accepts her hand. "Emma is having a lot of fun in this clinic. And she told me all about the ball she took in the face yesterday. She didn't want to go to school today because of it but I told her the other kids would think it was cool." Megan winks in my direction.

"Megan, we gotta go or I'm going to be late for cello." I quickly jump to my feet, soccer bag already over my shoulder. "You know how Miss Lydia gets when I'm late." 

"Oh, yeah, okay." Megan reaches in her purse for a tissue. "But we need to clean up that lip again. It's still bleeding. You didn't block another shot with your face again, did you?"

I quickly shake my head as Megan tries to dab my lip with a tissue. Ali looks on with a mixture of shock and confusion. 

"Well, let's go before Miss Lydia freaks out." Megan says decidedly. She then glances at Ali. "Her ancient teacher is a stickler on time so we have to run. Really nice meeting you, though, I'm sure I will see you again tomorrow."

"Yeah, you too!" Ali flashes her a half-hearted smile then looks at me. "Good job today, Emma. I will see you tomorrow?"

"Yeah, sure! Thanks!" I quickly tug on Megan's hand and start pulling her in the direction of the car. A part of me wants to look back but another part of me is too afraid to. For the first time in my life I have been caught in one of my lies. 

.........................................................................................................................................................................................................

Ashlyn crosses the field to where Ali is standing/staring at two retreating figures.

"Hey, some of us are grabbing dinner in Adams Morgan tonight." Ashlyn nudges Ali with her elbow. "You in?"

Ali doesn't say anything.

"You okay?" Ashlyn looks at her in concern.

Ali still doesn't say anything. Ashlyn has been friends with her long enough to know not to push her until she is ready. When Ali gets very upset about something, like really upset, she doesn't utter a word until she's done processing it.

"Well, I'm going to gather up the balls that are left on the field..." Ashlyn says as she starts to walk away.

"Ash?!" 

"Yeah?" Ashlyn stops in her tracks.

"She lied." Ali turns to her, a slight flush coming into her face.

"Huh?" Ash starts walking back towards her. "Who lied?"

"Emma." Ali sucks in a deep breath. "Emma lied."


	3. Chapter 3

"Emma!" Mrs. Callahan, my history teacher, says sharply. "Are you paying attention?"

My eyes fly open. "Yes, ma'am.'

"Alright...." Her eyes narrow into two small slits. "....then feel free to answer my question."

Oh crap. 

"Appomattox Court House," Alden, my friend to the left of me, whispers out of the corner of her mouth.

"Appomattox Court House." I parrot.

"Good." Mrs. Callahan reverts her attention back to the overhead screen. "Now, as you know, this is where General Lee..."

"Thanks," I mouth back to Alden. She nods and starts typing notes into her laptop. I should be  
doing the same but I am so tired that I can barely keep my eyes open. Last night, I tossed and turned, and barely got any sleep. I couldn't stop thinking about Ali catching me in my lie. What was she going to say to me in tonight's clinic? Would she confront me? Would she pretend it didn't happen? Would she tell Megan that I lied? Or. Worst yet. Would she try to talk to my dad?  
.........................................................................................................................................................................................................  
Tennis lessons are right after school on Wednesdays. By the time I am on the court, tennis racket in hand, I'm exhausted and a little dizzy. I was so worried about the upcoming soccer clinic that I hadn't been able to stomach breakfast or lunch. 

"Emma!" Micah, my tennis coach, motions me off the court after I've served about eight balls directly into the net.

"Sorry, Micah." I wipe a bead of sweat off my brow. 

"You are looking a little peaked," he says, placing his right hand on my shoulder. "You feeling okay?"

"I think I'm getting some sort of flu." I lie. "Do you mind if I just sit until Megan comes to get me?"

"Yeah, of course." He nods.

I slump down unto a nearby bench. Maybe I should just tell Megan that I am not feeling well? No. I can't do that. If I don't show up at clinic then Ali will really think that something is wrong. Maybe I should just go to the practice, play a little, tell them I think I am coming down with the flu, then have Megan pick me up. It wouldn't be a total lie since I really don't feel very good. And, if I don't stay until the end, then I can avoid Ali, especially since she has a knack for cornering me after clinic.  
.......................................................................................................................................................  
"Okay!" Ali says to the group. "We are going to switch things up today. I am going to coach Ashlyn's group and Ashlyn is going to coach you guys. The reason why we are doing this is show you the importance of working with different styles of coaching. This is going to be especially helpful if you continue to play through high school and college." She looks around the group but not directly at me. "So, be good to Ashlyn and I will see you at scrimmage time!"

I blow out a sigh of relief. Maybe I did all that worrying for nothing.

"Listen up!" Ashlyn flashes a dimpled smile. "We are going to work on our dribbling and passing skills so I'm breaking you up into groups of six. Got it?" 

We all nod. 

"Good!" Ashlyn whips out the roster sheet. "Adams, Ellis, Hall Goldberg, Miller, Stephens...you're in the first group. O'Brien, Connell,......

"Oh!" Lindsay interrupts, waving her freckled arm frantically in the air. "Can I be team captain?"

Ashlyn shakes her head without looking up from the roster. "Sorry, Lindsay, we don't need captains for this drill."

Lindsay scowls but says nothing. A few of the other girls snicker. Clearly, Lindsay is making a lot of friends at clinic.

"Could she get any more annoying?" a dark-haired girl beside me whispers.

"Yep." I retort. We both quietly giggle to ourselves.

"C'mon ladies! Let's go!" Ashlyn motions us up. 

The drills go smoothly at first. Even though I'm tired I manage to dribble and pass to my partner through a small obstacle course. About fifteen minutes in, however, my head starts to feel fuzzy. I ignore it and continue to play.

"Doing great!," Ashlyn encourages. "Keep it up!"

As I dribble the ball, my eyes start to blur. I blink hard. They blur even more. I looked down at the ground and suddenly it looks like I have grown an extra pair of feet.

"Emma! I'm open!" I hear someone faintly call.

I do my best to pass but my foot misses the ball altogether. 

"Emma!" The person calls again. 

I try again but wind up tripping over my own feet. Before I can break my fall, I land face forward into the ground.

Ashlyn blows the whistle. "Everyone stop!"

A few of the girls rush over to where I am.

"Oh my gosh! Are you okay?," says one of them. I lift my head up but all I can see are blurry, misshapen forms.

"Take five minutes and get some water." I hear Ashlyn say to them as she bends down to where I am at. 

"I'm really sorry..." I stammer, rolling over to my back.

"It's okay." She brushes a few pieces of grass off my forehead then carefully puts her hand on my forehead. "Does anything hurt?"

"Um...no...." I blink hard again.

"What's wrong with your eyes?" She leans in closer.

"It's nothing. They just got a little blurry when I was dribbling. " I try to focus but it doesn't help.

"Let's get you over to a bench, huh?" Ashlyn carefully wraps her arm around my waist and lifts me up. "You can walk, right?"

I nod, my face burning with embarrassment.

"I think we need to call your parents." Ashlyn finally says as we reach a long, narrow bench at the edge of the soccer field. "Maybe you should be seen by a doctor?"

"No. I'm fine." I say quickly. 

Ashlyn gently lowers me down unto the bench. "Emma, that's your name right?"

"Yeah." I squeeze my eyes shut as I sprawl across the relatively cold, hard bench. 

"Emma, I really think you need go." Ashlyn kneels down so that we are eye to eye. "It's probably nothing serious but you need get checked out anyway." 

"My parents aren't going to be able to take me to a doctor." For once, I am not lying. Dad is at some meeting in London and mom is working on a huge law case that has kept her away from home for nearly a week. 

Ashlyn sucks in a deep breath. "I'll be right back, okay?"

I nod.

From my spot on the bench I see her walk directly to where Ali is working with her group. Ashlyn says something, Ali looks in my direction, Ashlyn says something again, Ali blows her whistle.

"Guys!" I hear her say. "Take a five minute water break!" She, with Ashlyn by her side, starts sprinting in my direction.

Oh God. Even though I see blurriness all around me, I sit up. Maybe if I ask for a drink, pretend to feel better, they will just let me rest on the bench until practice ends.

"Emma!" Ali reaches me first. "What's wrong, honey?" 

The genuine concern in her eyes almost makes me want to tell her the truth-that I was exhausted, that I hadn't eaten anything all day because my stomach hurt, that my dad had given me the fat lip, that I lied, that I always lie, that I am afraid that I am going to get caught in the lies that I am forced to tell.

"Um..."my voice trails off. C'mon Emma, pull it together. You are good at lying. You are so good at lying. Just look her in the eye and make up a good lie.

"Emma?" Ali sits down beside me.

"I don't know what happened." I finally say, sliding a few inches away from her. "My eyes just went blurry for a few seconds but I feel better after laying down."

She exchanges a look with Ashlyn. "I think Ash is right, I think you need to see a doctor. You took that fall the other day..." She pauses. "Did you hit your head when you fell?"

"No," I start to shake my head but stop when I realize that it makes the blurriness worse. "I never hit my head. I just landed on part of my face."

Ashlyn kneels down and puts her hands on my knees. "Listen, Emma, you have been in clinic for two days and I can already tell that you are a phenomenal player. But part of being a phenomenal player is knowing your limits. If I don't feel good or something is wrong when I am on the field, I stop, I let someone look at me. You don't feel good so you need to stop and let someone look at you. If your parents can't take you to a doctor, Ali or I will. Okay?"

Ali nods her head in agreement."Where are your parents, sweetie?"

"My dad is in London. He flew out this morning," I say slowly. "Mom is working on a big case so she's hard to get a hold of."

"What about the girl that picked you up yesterday?" Ali presses. 

"Megan. She's my nanny." I say simply.

"So....." Ashlyn glances up at Ali. "Why don't we call her? Where is she right now?"

"I'm not sure." I rub my eyes. They aren't as blurry as before but I still feel a little weird. "She is going to pick me up from here though."

"Alright, let's give her a call," Ashlyn says definitively. 

........................................................................................................................................................................................................  
"Need anything, kiddo?" Megan fluffs up my pillow for the umpteenth time.

"No, I'm fine." I roll over to my side to look at her. It's been two hours since we arrived at the ER and so far I've seen two nurses, one PA, and someone who called himself a resident-whatever that means. I've had an IV put into my hand, my temperature checked, my blood drawn, a bright light shone in my eyes, my abdomen poked, my ears looked at....and asked if I was sexually active, TWICE. I finally told them I don't want to even kiss a boy let alone have sex. They seemed satisfied by my answer.

"You sure you don't want something to drink? The doctor said you could have some Sprite." Megan bites her lip. I can tell she's a basket case but trying hard not to show it. Can't blame her really. I have only gotten sick once in the three years that she has been taking care of me. 

"No, thanks." I shake my head. "And Megan, I love you, but your hovering."

"Okay." Megan hesitates before standing up. "Um. I guess I will try to call your mom one more time. The reception really sucks in here so maybe she's tried to call and is not getting through."

"Sure." I say even though we both know that mom hasn't tried to call. When she's working on a case like the one she's working on now, she usually shuts her phone off all together.

When Megan leaves, I turn on the TV. The news....Disney Jr.....the news.....Nick Jr.......the news....Cartoon Network. Eh. I guess if I am stuck in the ER indefinitely then a little Bugs Bunny may not be so bad. 

"She's back here, Miss Krieger." I suddenly hear a voice say in the hallway. "I am a huge fan of yours, by the way. Watched all of the games in the World Cup."

The remote slips out of my hand and drops unto the bed. Oh god. What is she doing here? 

"Hi!" The curtain to my tiny room slowly opens and Ali pokes her head in. "I texted Megan a little while ago and she said it was okay to stop by."

Dammit Megan. Holed up in a tiny, excruciatingly hot ER room with Ali is the last thing I need right now. 

"So....." She attempts a smile. "Do you mind if I sit with you for a while?"

"Uh, Megan's here somewhere, but sure." I suck in a breath. 

"Bugs Bunny!" She exclaims, gesturing towards the TV tucked in the corner of the wall. "I haven't seen Looney Toons in forever! Every day after school, my brother, Kyle and I would come home and watch them."

I smile but don't say anything. 

"Are you feeling better?" Her face turns serious as she takes the seat next to my bed. 

"Yeah." I nod. "I was dehydrated so they gave me some fluids." I lift up my hand to show the IV they had stuck in me about a hour ago. 

"Huh." Ali muses. "That might explain the blurred vision."

"Uh-huh." I revert my attention to Bugs Bunny, hoping she would get the hint that I am not in the mood to chit-chat.

"Ashlyn went out to dinner with a friend but she is thinking about stopping by too." Ali adds cheerfully.

And just when I think my night couldn't get any worse.

"That's really nice of you guys. Thank you," I manage to say, hoping I didn't sound as insincere as I felt.

"Knock-knock!" A man with messy brown hair, glasses and a white lab coat enters the room. Medical chart tucked under his right arm, he uses his left arm to pump a squirt of anti-bacterial soap unto his hands. "I'm Dr. Klink."

"Hi." I give him a half-wave with my good arm. 

"Are you mom?" He looks at Ali. 

"Um, no." Ali says quickly, her face flushing slightly."I'm her soccer coach for the time being."

"Oh, okay." He looks confused. "Well, we got her blood work back. Her electrolytes were way off, the IV should be helping with this, her blood sugar was hovering at 55 which is very low, and she was dehydrated, which the IV should also be helping with." He then turns to me. "Emma, when was the last time you have eaten anything?"

I look down at the IV in my hand. 

"Emma?" He probes gently.

"I haven't eaten anything since lunch yesterday." I admit. There was no sense in lying because he probably already knew the truth.

Ali, I can tell, is surprised by this. Dr. Klink, as I suspected, is not. 

"Look, I know what you are thinking...." I hear myself say. "But I don't have an eating problem or something like that. You can ask my nanny, I eat all the time. I just have had a lot of stuff going on this week. I have a project due on Friday, soccer clinic every night and a bunch of other activities. Today, I was just really tired and I had a stomachache so I didn't eat."

He thinks about this for a minute. "Okay. It seems like you have a lot going on...maybe too much...so I am going to recommend that we finish up the IV fluids. Will also give you something to eat that is easy on your stomach, maybe some chicken broth, and send you home. But I think that you need to stay home tomorrow? I suspect that you will be okay with that though." He winks. "Sound good?"

I nod, relieved that this night is almost over. The thought of my bed and endless sleep is sounding better and better.

"Okay. I will go score you some soup." He pats my shoulder before leaving the room. As he does, he almost runs smack into Megan. I then overhear him telling her the same thing that he told Ali and I.

Ali, surprisingly, doesn't say a word.

........................................................................................................................................................................................................  
"So, she hadn't eaten since noon yesterday?" Ashlyn repeats back, dipping a teabag into a hot mug of water and handing it to Ali. 

"No." Ali accepts the mug. "Thanks for the tea."

"No problem." Ashlyn sits on the opposite end of the sofa from Ali. Her hair is up in a ponytail and she has her reading glasses on. She hadn't planned on visitors tonight but Ali had texted her from the hospital, asking her if she could come over. 

"Ash. Something is not right with her." Ali bobs the teabag with her right hand. "She obviously got into a fight with her dad on Monday. Then shows up Tuesday with a busted lip. Then, today, she passes out because she is too stressed to eat."

"Whoa....hold on......"Ashlyn raises her palm in Ali's direction. "I definitely agree that something is a little off but we can't jump to conclusions. She is a pretty thin kid so she may have an eating disorder that she is trying to cover up, which might explain the passing out at practice bit. Girls with eating problems do stuff like that. I had a few girls in my college dorm who used to pass out from not eating for a few days."

"True." Ali reluctantly agrees.

"And we really don't know what is going on with her dad." Ashlyn continues. "He doesn't seem like he's around a lot so she may be doing things to get his attention."

"But why would she lie about her lip?"

Ashlyn shrugs. "That's where I think things are a little weird. But I don't know if it's our job to play counselors. Sure, we are here to mentor these girls in soccer, but getting into their family affairs is a whole different ballgame. I know you mean well but I don't think it's a good idea to get involved with Emma or her family off the soccer field."

Ali nods but she's still not convinced that Emma is not hiding something big.


	4. Chapter 4

Two Saturdays after my trip to the ER, Ali and Ashlyn hold an all-day scrimmage match. Playing in the scrimmage is not mandatory but everyone shows up regardless. One, because all of us are super competitive. Two, the team with the most goals gets a pizza party with Ali and Ashlyn after the match-a prize that practically everyone is foaming at the mouth over.

"Tonight..." Lindsay says right before we start warming-up, "I am going to talk to Ali about holding a clinic for our school. Daddy is on the school board and he thinks it's a great idea."

"Uh-huh, sounds good." I say absently, hiking up my socks so that they cover my shin pads.

"Hey, Emma!" Claire, a girl with bobbed brown hair sprints over to me. "We are on the same team! This pizza party is ours!!!!!!"

"Duh!" I laugh.

"Please tell me you are on Team A?" Lauren, a girl has been my drill partner all week, interjects from her spot on the ground.

"Yep!"

We all let out a clichéd girl squeal. I am not a fan of the squeal but I do it solely to annoy Lindsay. And it works.   
She promptly skulks away to her group. When they see her coming, a few of them blatantly roll their eyes.

"Not to be a jerk but I am so glad she's not on our team." Claire whispers.

"Omigod. Can you imagine what dinner with her would be like?" Lauren adds, standing up. "If I have to hear her story about meeting Abby Wambach one more freaking time.... I will lose it."

"Try going to school with her." I am not usually this catty but Lindsay brings out the worst in me. 

"Oh god!!" Both girls look horrified.

"Right?"

"Alright ladies gather up!" Ali calls.

"So, if we win, are you going to the pizza party?" Lauren asks me as we jog over to Ali.

"I think so? I have to text my nanny to see if she can come get me after the party. But...it shouldn't be a problem."

"Don't text her." Lauren says quickly. "My mom will drive you home."

I look at her in surprise. My mom, and none of my friends' mom, ever have time to take us anywhere. The carting around is usually done by our nannies or babysitters. "Are you sure that it would be okay with your mom?"

"Of course!" She shrugs. "She's always happy to drive my friends."

"Wow! Okay."

........................................................................................................................................................................................................  
The pizza party is at a small Italian restaurant near Tysons 1, the largest mall in McLean. Ali has been coming here for years so the owners, Maria and Giusepe, are practically part of her family.

"You thirsty?" Is the first thing Maria asks when I arrive with Lauren. "You look thirsty. Come, I get you drinks!" She leads us through a maze of tables covered in pretty red checkered tablecloths. "You hungry too? Pizza is coming soon. Giusepe , sbrigati con le pizze . Queste ragazze hanno fame!"

Giusepe, a small man with a full head of white hair, pokes his head out of the kitchen door. "Sto correndo più veloce che posso."

"Eh! That man!" She dismisses him with a plump hand. "Here!" She stops at a long table covered in a pretty tablecloth with a vase of fresh flowers in the middle. "You sit!" She then promptly pushes me down unto a chair at the end of the table.

"I see Maria has taken care of you." Ali laughs as she takes the seat next to me.

"Yeah!" I smile. I'm actually glad that Ali chose to sit next to me. She has been surprisingly cool the past week and a half. She asked me how I was feeling once but hasn't brought up my ER visit or fat lip again. When we do chat, it's about me doing some developmental clinics over the winter.

"Highest number of goals for the whole day!" Ali gently pokes me in the ribs. "You were on fire today!"

I blush slightly.

"Have you given any more thought to whether you want to do the clinics this winter?"

"I think I kind of want to try it?" I say as the other girls start sitting down around us.

"Oh my gosh!" Ali gives me an impromptu hug. "I'm so happy to hear you say that!"

"Okay, ladies! First order of business!" Ashlyn calls from the opposite end of the table. "Napkin animal contest."

All of us look around at one another. By the looks on everyone's faces no one has heard of a napkin animal contest but no one wants to ask out of fear of looking stupid. 

"Seriously?" Ashlyn pretends to look disgusted. "You don't know what a napkin animal contest is?" She grabs a paper napkin off the table, starts ripping, twisting, and folding pieces. A few minutes later she produces a napkin shaped like a shark. "Tada!"

Being the competitive people that we are, we all scramble to grab a napkin. By the time our pizzas arrive, we have a napkin zoo to which includes my turtle-well, more like a half circle with two rectangles as 'legs.'

"Pizza!" Half the table practically dives face forward into the food.

"Wow! I guess we really worked you guys today!" Ali laughs, grabbing the last slice of pizza from the pan closest to us.

"Uh-huh!" I agree, taking a large bite of my own pizza.

Halfway through my second slice I hear the faint dinging of a cellphone. Ali quickly checks to see if it's hers then nudges me. "I think your phone is going off."

"Oh, right." I reach under the table and pull out my phone from my soccer bag. On my screen is just one single text from dad : GET HOME NOW

My heart starts to pound. He wasn't supposed to be home this weekend. He was supposed to be in Seattle.

"Um. I gotta go." I quickly shove the phone back in my bag and stand up.

"Is everything okay?" Ali asks, putting down her slice of pizza.

"Yeah. Yeah." I nod my head. "It just...um...it's my nanny....she texted me...I forgot I have some family thing tonight and..um...I have to go home."

"Oh. Do you have a ride?" She starts to get up.

"Of course. In fact she's right outside." I fumble. This couldn't be further from the truth. Once Megan found out that Lauren's mom could bring me home after the party, she decided to go out on a date with her boyfriend. Mom, from what I understand, is going to be in the office all weekend. And, dad, there's no way I can ask him to come get me. 

"I'll walk you out," Ali puts her napkin on the table and gets up.

"No!" I burst out. "It's really okay! Your pizza will get cold if you walk me out!"

"Okay." She reluctantly sits back down. I can't tell whether she is hurt that I spoke so sharply or confused.

"I'll see you on Monday." I offer. 

"Okay." She touches my hand briefly. "Be careful going home."

"I will."

After letting Lauren know that I won't be needing a ride home, I hurry outside. The front of the restaurant has a large glass door and picture window so I move away from them and to a windowless door that is tucked under a small awning. 

"A cab." I mutter to myself. "I will call a cab." Before I start looking into my phone for cab numbers, I realize that if a cab pulls up at the restaurant, Ali or someone from the team might see me. I decide that my best bet is to walk a few blocks down to the mall and catch a cab from there. It's dark outside but the restaurant is off a main road so I should be safe. And I had a credit card for emergencies so I have money to go home on.

I pick up my bag to leave when the door to the right of me suddenly opens. It's Giuseppe holding a large bag of trash.

"What-ah are you doing out here-ah by yourself-ah?" He asks kindly in his very heavy Italian accent.

"Oh," I stall, my heart practically in my throat. "You scared me! I'm just waiting for my nanny."

"It's dark-ah out," He says sternly. "You should wait inside with Miz Ali, yes?"

As luck would have it, a car pulls into the parking lot.

"You know, I think that's my nanny now!" I say cheerfully. "Thanks for looking out for me though!" Before he can say anything more, I sprint across the parking lot and don't stop until I reach Chain Bridge Road, one of the busiest roads in McLean. Cars with their lights on, speed past me, practically blinding me. I squint my eyes, realize that the mall is to my left, and start running in that direction. 

.........................................................................................................................................................................................................  
"Miz Ali," Giuseppe leans over to where Ali is talking with some of her girls.

"Hey Giuseppe," Ali turns to face him. "What's going on?"

"Well...I think-ah you should-ah know that your girl-ah ran to the road ." Giuseppe's accent is so thick that Ali looks at him in utter confusion. "She no get in car with girl named nanny."

"Wait..." Ali jumps up from her seat. "Are you talking about Emma? Small, dark-haired..not sure what color her eyes are...? Ali can feel herself starting to panic.

"Yes yes." Giuseppe nods. "Dark haired-ah little girl. She not get in car. She say she get in car but she don't. She run to road...I see her."

Ashlyn, sitting at the opposite end of the table, notices that Ali is looking upset. She gets up and walks over to where Giuseppe and Ali are talking.

"What's going on?" 

Ali turns to her, "Emma. Emma got a text...she left...said her nanny was picking her up...that her nanny was already here...but Giuseppe just saw her run to the road."

"Okay, well let's go and...." Ashlyn suggests.

Ali doesn't even give Ashlyn a chance to finish. Within seconds, she's running through the parking, Ashlyn a few paces behind her. When they both finally reach the road, all they find is a man riding his bicycle.

"You go right." Ali snaps. "I go left."

"Stop for a minute...." Ashlyn says gently, grabbing Ali's wrist before she has a chance to take off running. "We have a group of girls back at the restaurant that we both can't bail on. I will go back, hang with them, and you, you take your car around and see if you can find Emma if that will make you feel better. But she is probably long gone by now."

Ali nods. "You're right. You're absolutely right."

"Emma is thirteen years old, Al." Ashlyn adds. "I will bet you a million dollars that this is about a boy. I bet he texted her at dinner and she bolted to go hang out with him. Happens all the time." 

Ali looks down at the ground. "Maybe? But Ash, I keep getting this feeling that something is wrong. I've gotten to know her a little bit and she seems like a really responsible kid. She doesn't seem like the type to even have a boyfriend at thirteen."

"You would be surprised." Ashlyn cracked a smile. "Sometimes it's the quiet ones that are the wildest."

"Maybe so?" Ali thinks on this a moment. "I guess I can text her nanny and see if she made it home? I think I have her number still in my phone when Emma was in the ER."

"There you go!" Ashlyn gives her a pat on her shoulder. "Let's go back inside and finish up this party so I can go out for a beer." 

"Alright." 

........................................................................................................................................................................................................  
Sunday morning, I go out to breakfast with my big brother, William. He's a junior at Georgetown and having breakfast every Sunday morning is a tradition of ours. 

"So how bad is it at home?" He finally says mid-way through breakfast.

I swallow hard. He almost had it as bad me growing up-only I think my dad just mainly yelled at him.

"That bad, huh." He sets his coffee cup down carefully. "Em, the only way you are going to escape this is if you go to college or boarding school. College is another five years off so I really think you need to look into boarding schools."

"McLean is my home, William." I fight back tears. "All my friends are here. I am doing really well at soccer...there's this developmental soccer program that I am going to apply for....and"

"Emma!" He interrupts. "At some point none of it is going to be worth staying for. Do you understand what I am saying to you? That's why I went to boarding school my freshman year. Best decision I ever made. Sure, I had restrictions but I didn't have to deal with the shit show that is our family." 

He's right. I know he's right. But maybe if I just try a little harder-get better grades, have better manners, do everything right-maybe my life will improve and I won't have to leave.

"You know I would do anything for you?" William softens, reaching across the table to grab my hand. "Anytime you need me, you know I will be there, right?"

I blink back tears. Last night was probably the worst that I had ever seen dad. I didn't think it would ever stop. The yelling...the throwing of things...the name calling....the hitting.....

"I know, William." I finally say. "Thanks for saying that."

........................................................................................................................................................................................................  
It's pouring down rain on Monday so clinic is held inside the complex. Playing indoor soccer is totally different than turf soccer but we still manage to get through the drills that Ashlyn and Ali want to get through. Ali is friendly but I sense that she is a little angry with me-especially at the end of practice when she doesn't stop to chit-chat with me like she normally does. A little deflated, I walk towards the locker room to gather my things.

"Hey Emma!" A few of the girls from the group that I played with on Saturday calls out in unison.

"Yeah?" I turn around.

"We forgot to Gatorade you on Saturday!" One of them giggles while another rushes me with an entire bottle of Gatorade. Before I even know what's happening, I am covered in Gatorade.

"Way to go Emma!" They clap.

I smile good-naturedly. It's become a little bit of a tradition to Gatorade someone who has done well in a game. I should be flattered but am slightly annoyed that I have to change back into school uniform-the only clothes that I brought with me.

"See you tomorrow, Em!" They all disperse and I head to the locker room. Once I make sure the locker room is empty, I gently peel off my wet shirt. On my right arm is a large bruise the shape of a hand print. A long sleeve workout shirt successfully covered that. Further down my body is a large bruise that has changed color since Thursday. It was a blue color but now it has turned a weird pinkish-purplish color. The worst one, however, is on my right shoulder from where he slammed me into the wall-it's blue, pink, and purple. 

"Emma..............."someone gasps to my right. I slowly turn to see Ashlyn standing there, a large bag of soccer balls in her hand.


	5. Chapter 5

Neither one of us say anything for what seems like an eternity. 

"Who did this to you?" Ashlyn finally asks, her voice so quiet that I don't even hear what she has said.

I just stand perfectly still, my school shirt dangling between my fingers.

"Emma." She says a little louder, a little more urgent. "Who did this to you?"

Panic overcomes me. My mind goes blank and for once in my life, I can't formulate a lie.

"It's okay....." Ashlyn walks towards me as though I am some sort of wild animal who is on the brink of snapping. "Let's sit down and talk about this."

I blink hard. I don't want to "talk." I want to put my shirt on, get my bag, and run as fast as I can out of here. Most importantly, I want to pretend like this never happened.

"I have to go." My voice waivers slightly. "And there's really nothing to talk about." 

Ashlyn looks angry but she masks it well. "This isn't nothing. You have multiple bruises...big bruises all up and down your back...your shoulder....your arm." She says in an even tone.

I throw my shirt on and reach down to grab my bag. "I've gotta go. My nanny is probably already waiting outside for me." 

"Emma, don't do this." Ashlyn reaches out to grab my arm. Out of habit, I flinch-something that does not go unnoticed by her. 

"You can trust me." She says softly, dropping her hand down to her side.

"It's not what you think." I manage to say. "At all."

"If someone is hurting you..."Ash's voice breaks slightly. "If someone is hurting you, I can help you. Ali can help you. But you have to talk to us."

I look down at the floor. And then it comes to me. A lie. A really, really good lie. 

"I'm really embarrassed to talk about it." I say slowly. "And you can't say anything to anyone. Promise?"

Ash looks relieved. She thinks she's getting somewhere with me. "Okay....I promise."

"There are some boys from England who go to my school. They started kind of a rugby club and like to play on the weekends at this guy Liam's house." I look her straight in the eye like I've trained myself to do. Well, actually, the boys starting a rugby club is true, which helps me sound more convincing. "Some of them were talking about it at lunch one day and it sounded like fun. They let me come and try it out a few weeks ago. I like and keep going back. So far, they have taught me about the different positions and I get to play some. I know my parents would never let me play because it's really, really rough, so I've been sneaking away to play. They're boys so I've been getting pretty banged up."

"Rugby?" Ashlyn leans back on her heels as she thinks about this. 

"Rugby." I maintain my eye contact. If I look down she's going to sense that I'm not telling the truth.

"So, like what position do you play?" She half-smiles, her left dimple popping out slightly. "A scrum flanker?"

"Yes! Wow, I can't believe you guessed it!" I obviously have no idea what a scrum flanker is but it sounds very rugbyish-I guess. 

She stops smiling but I keep plugging forward.

"The girls in my class are a little jealous that I get to play with them every Saturday." I add. "Some of the guys on the team are pretty cute." I stop suddenly. If I keep talking she might be prompted to ask more questions. "Um. But you know, now that I told you my secret, I really have to go. My nanny has probably been waiting out there for a very long time."

"Okay." She says absently. It's hard to tell whether she's angry or disappointed with something. At this point I can care less which one it is-as long as she lets me leave. "I'll see you tomorrow?"

"Yeah, see you tomorrow."

When I get outside, I lean against the complex's wall. Large droplets of rain are falling directly unto my face but I barely notice. This was the closest that I have ever come to someone finding out. And it was my own fault. How could I be so stupid and change in a public place? 

........................................................................................................................................................................................................  
"Hey!" Ali nudges Ashlyn from across the table. "What's with you tonight? You never miss a 80's hairband question."

Every Monday night the group-a mixture of DC friends and Washington Spirit players-gets together for trivia night in Georgetown. It's usually Ashlyn's favorite night of the week but tonight she's not feeling it.

"You know guys, I'm really not feeling well." Ashlyn pushes away her glass of beer. "I think I'm going to head out."

Ali looks down at Ash's untouched beer. It's not like Ash to bail on trivia night or leave a full glass of beer. "Want me to walk you out?,"she offers.

"Um sure." 

The pair walk out to where Ash's car is parked. 

"So, want to tell me what's bothering you?" Ali pulls up the hood to her sweatshirt. It is not raining as hard as it was earlier but there is still a light rain coming down.

"Uh...."Ash voice cracks.

"Ash....?" Ali puts her hands on Ash's forearms. 

"Can we get out of the rain?" Ash suddenly says.

"Of course. Let's go to my place." 

Ali's apartment is a few blocks away from the bar so it's not long before Ash is curled up in the corner of Ali's couch, cup of hot chocolate in hand. 

"Soooo......" Ali takes a seat opposite of Ash and looks at her expectantly. "You going to tell me what has you all worked up now?"

Ash looks down at her cup. She can't stop thinking about Emma...thinking of her bruised body...thinking of how scared she looked when she realized that Ash had seen her. And Emma's bruises. In all the times that Ashlyn so injuries on the field, she had never seen a body that banged up before. 

"After clinic, I went into the locker room to see if anyone had left any soccer balls lying around..." Ash says into her cup."....and when I walked in,I walked in on Emma changing her shirt."

"Okay?" Ali crinkles her nose, something she does when she is trying to figure something out.

"Ali......" Ashlyn sets her hot chocolate down unto a nearby coffee table. "She had bruises...I'm talking large bruises...all over her. There was a handprint...."Ashlyn can't even get the words out. Ali, alarmed, almost drops her own hot chocolate into her lap. 

"Where was the handprint?" Ali asks quietly, not really knowing whether she wanted an answer or not.

"On her arm...." Ash's eyes fill up with tears. "Someone had grabbed her arm hard. The handprint was huge."

"And?" Ali's voice is barely a whisper, she was suddenly feeling a little sick to her stomach. "What did you say to her?"

"I asked her who did it to her." Ash brushes off a tear that has rolled down her face. "She said that she secretly plays rugby with a group of boys from her school and that the games get rough."

Ali swallowed hard. 

"She lied, Ali." Ashlyn looked at Ali, several tears rolling down her face. "She lied to me."

Ali slides over to Ashlyn and slips an arm around her shoulder. "How do you know she was lying?"

"Because I asked her if she played scrum flanker and she said 'yes'."

"I'm not sure I understand?" Ali's arm gently squeezes Ashlyn's shoulder.

"There is no such position as scrum flanker in rugby. " Ashlyn looks at Ali incredulously. "I tricked her on purpose...asked her if she played scrum flanker to see if she was lying."

Ali's arm drops from around Ashlyn. She puts her head in both hands. Instincts had been telling her all along that something was wrong with Emma but this was even worst than she had imagined. 

"Someone is hurting her." Ashlyn looks at Ali with conviction. "And she's protecting them."

........................................................................................................................................................................................................  
On Tuesday, I wake up with a sore throat. By noontime, I am in the school nurse's office with a high fever. She ends up calling Megan, who promptly picks me up.

"I think we should have you checked for strep?" Megan suggests on the way home. "The nurse said it's going around. What do you think?"

"Uh-huh." I lean my head against the car window. It's coolness makes my face feel so good.

"Definitely no soccer or activities for you today or tomorrow." Megan adds. "I'll call everyone this afternoon and let them know."

This, I can live with. A few days off from reality sounds like magic to me.

........................................................................................................................................................................................................  
Ashlyn is working out with her trainer when Ali texts her: EMMA'S NANNY JUST CALLED. EMMA IS NOT FEELING WELL. GOING TO BE OUT TODAY AND PROBABLY TOMORROW.

Ashlyn wipes her sweaty forehead with her forearm in frustration. Even though she and Ali had talked for a long time last night, neither one had come up with a good solution on how to handle this situation. If they were teachers then they would have a legal responsibility to report suspected child abuse. But they weren't teachers-they weren't even technically Emma's coaches-so what were they supposed to do?  
.........................................................................................................................................................................................................  
It turns out that it was strep but by Friday, I am well enough to go to school and soccer clinic. When I arrive at the soccer field, a half a dozen girls give me hugs.

"We missed you, Emma!" Lauren touches my shoulder. "So glad to have you back!"

"Me too!" I say. And I genuinely mean it. Soccer is really growing on me. When I was at home the last few days, I spent a lot of it on the Internet, reading up on soccer developmental programs. 

"Glad to see you back," Ali ruffles my hair before motioning everyone into the circle. "This is probably going to be your toughest day yet. Everyone up for a challenge?!"

She wasn't kidding. The day's drills end up being the hardest, most rigorous drills we have done yet. By the time practice is over, we are all sprawled across the field like the Civil War soldiers we learned about in fifth grade.

"Good job, guys!" Ashlyn laughs as she maneuvers around all of us. "But you are going to have to get up. Your parents are going to be mad if we let you sleep out here tonight!"

We all laugh. Some continue to lay there while others slowly get up. 

"Let's have a sleepover at my house next weekend." Lauren holds out her hand as I struggled to get up.

I grab her hand and pull myself up. "That actually sounds like a lot of fun."

Lindsay, who never strays too far from me, shoots us a dirty look as she walks by.

"She's pissed because her dad can't buy her friends." Lauren whispers. 

I stifle a laugh. Part of me feels bad because it's the truth.

"Lauren, hurry up, honey!" Lauren's mom, who is waiting at the edge of the field, calls out. "Daddy and Scottie are in the car. We thought we would have family dinner tonight."

"I gotta go!" She grins. "See you, Monday!" 

I amble out to the parking lot to where Megan should be waiting. When I get out there, however, there is no sign of her or the BMW. This isn't like her at all-she's never late for anything unless I'm involved. 

ARE YOU ON YOUR WAY?-I text.

Several minutes go by and I get no response. My legs, tired from running all afternoon, start to ache, so I sit down unto the curb. The setting sun puts a chill in the air and I burrow deeper down into my sweatshirt.

I AM SO SORRY. TRYING TO GET TO YOU BUT STUCK. BAD ACCIDENT ON 495.-a text finally pops up on my phone.

"Hey!" Ali, flanked by Ashlyn, suddenly appears. "What are you still doing here?"

"Oh, well, I guess my nanny is stuck in traffic." I wave my phone in the air for good measure.

The two of them exchange a long look. 

"You know what," Ali finally says. "I am making pasta tonight. Why don't you come with me, I will make you dinner, and then I will drive you home afterwards."

"Oh, wow," I say. "That's really nice but I think I will just wait for Megan."

"I don't mind at all." She gives Ashlyn another look. "In fact, I insist."

.........................................................................................................................................................................................................  
Ali's apartment in Georgetown is modern but cozy. There are candles practically everywhere and it smells like vanilla. 

"Here you go, girl." Ali sets a plate of hot, steaming noodles in front of me. "I don't know how much sauce you like on your noodles so I put the sauce on the side." 

"Ali makes the best pasta." Ashlyn settles in next to me with her own plate of food. "Well, aside from me."

Ali rolls her eyes. "Whatever."

"So you guys have been friends for a long time, huh?" I twirl a spaghetti noodle around my fork.

"I try to get rid of her but we keep getting recruited by the same club team." Ali teases.

"She's lucky to have me." Ashlyn shrugs nonchalantly. 

"My friend, Julia, and I have been friends since we were in preschool." I offer.

Both of them look at me in surprise. I don't think either one of them have actually heard me talk about my life outside of soccer.

"Do you have any brothers or sisters?" Ashlyn asks.

"Yeah." I nod. "My brother, William, is studying at Georgetown. He wants to be a history professor some day. My sister, Jane, is in law school at Yale. She wants to be just like my mom."

Ali smiles."Are you close with either one of them?"

"Jane is 11 years older than me so I don't really hang out with her much." I take a sip of my milk. "But when she comes home to visit she likes to take me shopping which is kinda cool because I like to shop. William and I are close but I don't see him much except for Sundays. We do breakfast every Sunday together."

Ashlyn and Ali then take turns telling me stories about their families. Ali grew up here in Virginia but Ashlyn grew up in Florida. And both, I learn, have big brothers whom they adore. Although I love hearing about their families, I enjoy their soccer stories more. Before I know it, the night has flown by and it's time for me to go home.

"This was so great." I say. "But I probably should be getting home. Megan texted me a while ago and said that she can come get me so you won't have to drive all the way out to McLean."

"You know what!" Ali says. "Why don't we have a girl slumber party? I have a few pints of ice cream in the freezer and we can watch a movie."

I lean back against the couch seat cushion. Ali's apartment is so different from my home-warm, cozy, fun-that I don't want to leave. But I also don't want to intrude, Ali probably has friends she would rather hang out with. 

"I probably shouldn't." I finally say.

"Oh come on!" Ash fake pouts."We never get to have girl slumber parties!"

I think on this some more. My dad isn't home. My mom is at the office. Megan won't care.

"You know...."I break into a smile. "Why not?"

........................................................................................................................................................................................................  
Ali and Ashlyn both wake up to the sound of sobbing. Ali, who was fast asleep, bolts out of bed. She practically runs head first into Ashlyn, who had been asleep in the spare bedroom and who is looking as equally disoriented.

"What the...." Ash mutters. 

"I dunno....wait...is it Emma?" Ali says suddenly.

The two of them run out into the living room to find Emma sitting upright on the couch, sobbing so hard that even in the dark they can see her chest heaving.

"Shhhhhh......."Ali soothes, quickly gathering Emma in her arms.

"Noooooo....." Emma sobs. "Stop....please stop...." 

"Stop what, baby?" Ashlyn practically trips over her own feet to get to her. 

"Just stop........." Emma sobs again.

"It's alright." Ali pulls her tightly to her chest. "You're alright."

"I'm gonna try harder....I promise." Emma wails.

"Ash, I think she's dreaming." Ali says over Emma's head. 

Ashlyn nods, reaching out to rub Emma's back.

"I'm gonna be a better girl....I promise....please don't hurt me...."Emma sobs against Ali's chest.

Ali had heard of night terrors but had never experienced one. And she couldn't remember what they were supposed to do...were they supposed to wake Emma up..... or not wake her up?

"We're right here." Ash says quietly, stroking Emma's hair. "You're safe.

"I'm gonna do better..,"

"Ali...." Ash looks on as Ali gently rocks Emma in her arms. "What are we gonna do?" 

"I don't know," Ali whispers. "I just don't know."


	6. Chapter 6

"Hi honey!" Ali's mom picks up on the second ring. "You must have been reading my mind because I was going to call you this afternoon."

"Hey mom..." Ali settles unto her bed. It was mid-afternoon on Saturday but she was so exhausted from not sleeping the night before, that lying on her bed seemed like the best idea she has had in a long time. "How are you?"

"Oh, I'm good!" She says. "Cleaning up some weeds in the flowerbed and doing some laundry. What are you up to today?"

"Not much. I'm just kind of hanging out." Ali looks around her. There is a laundry basket full of clothes that she had intended to wash and dust on the nightstand that she had intended to dust-but ultimately had decided that everything could wait until tomorrow.

"Did you talk to your brother this week?" Her mom asks.

"Uh, yeah. I think I talked to him on Wednesday."

"He wanted me to watch his newest YouTube video but I couldn't figure out how to bring up YouTube on the computer."

Ali laughs despite herself. Deborah was not hip on the latest technology. It took her over a year to figure out how to attach a picture to a text message.

"Not funny!" Her mom scoffs. "Just when I have everything figured out, they change it on me again."

"Mom, let's be honest here, you had a hard time with the Polaroid camera that dad bought you one Christmas." Ali teases. "I remember you spent hours trying to figure that out."

"Did you call to talk to me or make fun of me?" Her mom teases back.

"Wellllllllll................." Ali's voice grows serious as she covers herself with her favorite PSU blanket. "I actually called because I need your advice."

"Of course, honey. What is it?"

"Have you ever had a student who you thought was being abused?"

"Abused?" Her mom echoes. "Like what kind of abuse? Sexual? Emotional? Physical?"

"Maybe emotional but definitely physical?"

Her mom pauses to think. "I have had a lot of students over the years so let me see.......She pauses again, "Well, there was one little girl...many years ago.. who burst out crying in gym because it hurt to run. Turns out her uncle had been sexually abusing her and had given her a STD."

This makes Ali queasy. How someone could violate a child...a child...was beyond comprehension.

"Why are you asking, honey?"

Ali, as best as she can, recounts everything-the first day of clinic when she overheard Emma's dad call her 'stupid', the lies that Emma has told, the bruises that Ash saw, Emma's night terror last night.

"So......"Her mom says softly. "As teachers, we are trained to look for signs of abuse. If a child is accident prone or is withdrawn or has trouble connecting with others, then these are some signs that someone is hurting them physically."

"Okay." Ali, suddenly feeling cold, pulls up the blanket to her chin. "So what do you do?"

"Well, you need to first start with documentation. We were told that if we suspected abuse, to write down the date of the incident and as much information about that incident as possible. For example, if you see Emma with unusual bruising, document the day, how you saw it, and what you saw."

Ali grabs a pen and paper from the nightstand so she can jot a few notes down.

"We were also told that it's important to gain that child's trust. He or she has most likely been threatened so they won't easily open up. You have to understand that abused children believe these threats. If they tell then the person hurting them might go after them or their families." Her mom pauses. "If Emma is being abused then she is probably afraid that the person abusing her is going to kill her or hurt someone she loves."

Ali's hand shakes as she writes this. 

"If Emma starts to trust you, she might start opening up." Her mom says gently. "Once you find out what's going on then you can figure out whether you should report it or not."

Ali puts down her pen. "I love you mom. Thanks for this."

........................................................................................................................................................................................................  
Megan had picked me up from Ali's around 10 o'clock. After that, she decided that we should have a little fun in the city. We do a few hours at the Spy Museum, my favorite museum in D.C., then we drive to Pentagon City where we eat lunch and do some shopping.

"I had fun with you today, girl!" Megan says as she pulls into my driveway. "Your dad is going to be home tonight but leaves tomorrow morning for a business trip....so I will see you in the morning?"

I gulp. Maybe I can call Julia and spend the night at her house?

"You okay?" She looks at me quizzically.

"Oh, yeah, fine." I pull on the door handle and step out of her car with my bags from the mall. "See you tomorrow! Thanks for a great day!" 

I watch her drive off with a heavy heart. Coming home seems to be getting harder and harder. Mom is never here and he always in a bad mood. The littlest things seem to set him off.

........................................................................................................................................................................................................  
"Emma get down here!" Dad isn't home for more than a hour when he summons me into his office.

"Did you spend money today?" He spats when I appear at his desk. 

"Uh, yeah." I have to think about this for a moment. "But I used my debit card."

"No." He clutches the edge of the glass desk. "You did not."

I don't know what to say. I have two cards-one is my debit and the other is a credit card for emergencies. Both are from the same bank so I must have gotten them confused.

"Oh, dad..."I start to apologize. "I'm so sorry. I must have gotten them confused."

"You are so god damn irresponsible!" He slams his fist down. For a second, I'm afraid that he is going to break the table.

I take a deep breath. He gets mad when I don't say anything so I try a different approach. "I will do extra chores around the house to pay you back."

"Pay me back?!" He mocks. "Chores around the house? You don't do any fucking chores around this house! You have a housekeeper that picks up after you and a nanny that does everything short of wiping your ungrateful ass!" 

Tears start to form in my eyes. I wish them away but they start spilling down my face.

"You know what!" He says, practically leaping to where I stand. "You know how you can pay me back. You can fucking clean my desk with your nose? How about that?" He puts me in a headlock and pushes my forehead down unto the glass desk. "Go ahead and clean it, lazy piece of shit!"

I start to sob. He is squeezing my head so tightly that my eyes start to go blurry. "Please, dad....you're hurting me...." I gasp.

"Am I, Emma? Am, I?!" He says in a babyish voice. "I will tell you what hurting feels like..." He smacks my head into the edge of the glass table. I feel a sharp pain penetrate the corner of my forehead, followed by a surge of hot stickiness.  
........................................................................................................................................................................................................  
"Well, the good news is.....the cut is along your hairline." Dr. Bloom says, pulling off his rubber gloves and throwing them into dad's office trash. "This means that you most likely won't need plastic surgery. But when the stitches come out, we will decide whether a plastic surgeon consult is necessary." 

"That's great news, Barry." Dad says. "We are so lucky that you live just down the street. And that you have materials to stitch her up at your house."

"Well," Dr. Bloom peers back at dad through his half-moon glasses. "I have to have a stitch kit on hand with four boys in my house. Joshua, just like Emma here, was playing soccer in the house, and cut his knee on the edge of our glass coffee table."

"Kids." Dad gives him a fake exasperated shrug. "So, Emma's head is okay otherwise? She doesn't have a concussion or anything?"

"I'm going to say 'no'," Dr. Bloom pats my knee comfortingly. "Her pupils look good, she's not vomiting...which are two things that might indicate a more serious head injury. However, you need to keep an eye on her for 24 hour. If she starts vomiting, if her eyes become blurry, or if she develops a very bad headache, take her into the emergency room immediately. 

"Will do." Dad says, avoiding all eye contact with me. 

"So have you been to any games this season?" Dr. Bloom asks my dad. He and my dad, both Redskins fans, sometimes go to games together.

"No, I've just been working too much to go....." Dad's voice trails off.

........................................................................................................................................................................................................  
After Dr. Bloom leaves, Dad apologizes to me. 

"Emma?" He says quietly after I stare at him in silence.

"I want to go to William's." I start to cry. "I want to spend the night at William's."

"Okay. Okay," He says eagerly. "I'll drive you. We'll go right now."

I don't even bother packing a bag.

"I didn't mean to do it, Emma." Dad says right before we pull up to William's dorm. "I don't know what it is wrong with me. Sometimes I get so stressed out at work...." His voice trails off.

I just stare straight ahead. There is nothing that he can say to me that will make this all better. 

"You smashed my head into a desk." The words are out of my mouth before I can stop them. "I had to throw out my shirt because there is blood...all over it." I choke back a sob.

"Oh God...Emma" Dad puts his hands into his face and starts crying.

I have never, ever seen him cry before. 

.........................................................................................................................................................................................................  
Ali wakes up to the sound of someone knocking on her door. A clock on the nightstand reads 10:05 PM and she realizes that she has been asleep for over six hours.

"I'm coming!" She calls out.

There are no lights on, so she hits a few light switches on her way to the front door. Before she peeks through the keyhole, she half-smiles. It's probably Ash wanting her to go out. She is notorious for showing up unannounced. And often times it involves her getting drug out on some crazy adventure-like skateboarding around The Mall at 2:00 AM. 

"Emma?" Ali quickly opens the door when she realizes who it is. 

Emma is wearing no coat and two different shoes but Ali doesn't notice anything but the large train of stitches edged along Emma's forehead. Her first instinct is to gasp but she remembers her mom's words. The only way she was going to help Emma was if she played it cool and gained her trust.

"This is a nice surprise!" Ali forces a smile. "Come in."

Emma doesn't say anything. And once her face hits the light, Ali notices that her face is blotchy from crying. 

"Ali?" Emma manages to say. 

"Yes?" 

"Can I sleep here tonight?" Emma looks like she is on the verge of crying again. "I've kind of have had a long day. I was supposed to sleep at William's but he went out to a frat party....and...." 

"It's okay...."Ali carefully reaches out for her hand. "You are welcome here any time. You can even have a whole bed to yourself in the spare bedroom."

Emma sucks in a breath and heaves it out. Ali can tell that she is trying her best not to cry. 

"How about I make you some hot chocolate?" Ali squeezes her hand. 

"I'm just really tired." Emma says in a whisper. 

"Okay, well let's get you into bed." Ali gently tugs her into the general direction of the spare bedroom.

"Ali...." 

"Yeah?" Ali looks back at her. 

"I don't want to be alone....." Emma's hand goes limp in Ali's hand. "Can I sl-sleep with you?"

.........................................................................................................................................................................................................  
After dressing Emma in an old college shirt, Ali puts her to bed. 

"Do you need more blankets? Are you cold," Ali leans over and tucks the covers around Emma's chin. 

Emma shakes her head. 

"Okay." She carefully brushes back a strand of hair that has escaped from Emma's pontytail. As she does, she notices how deep the cut is. A sick feeling rises into her throat. "Does your head hurt?" 

Emma shakes her head again.

"If it does start to hurt, you will wake me up, right?" 

Emma nods.

"Okay. Night, Emma." Ali reaches over and shuts off the light. 

"Night." 

Emma rolls over to her side, thinking that Ali won't notice the flood of tears that has forced their way out. Ali does notice but is too afraid to say a word-too afraid to ask anything. Instead, she wordlessly pulls Emma close to her. Emma stiffens but then conforms into Ali, her tears spilling unto Ali's arms like large raindrops. 

And the last thought before Emma succumbs to sleep in Ali's arms, is how her own father had tried to kill her.


	7. Chapter 7

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> This is a work in progress

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is a work in progress

Although Emma wakes up with a throbbing headache Sunday morning, she insists on meeting William for their weekly brunch date.

"Are you sure you don't want to just sleep a little longer?" Ali watches Emma wince as she bends over to tie her shoe. 

"No, I really should meet William. This is the only time I get to see him during the week." Emma puts her hand to forehead, it hurt to bend over. 

"Okay. I will walk you there then."

"Oh you don't have to." Emma says a little too quickly. The truth is, she was completely embarrassed for having shown up on Ali's doorstep last night. She had gone to William's dorm first only to find out that he had gone to a fraternity party. When she walked outside his dorm, it was cold, she didn't have a jacket, and she was scared. She didn't know where to go. She couldn't go home...she couldn't go to any of her friends' houses...she couldn't go to her mom's office. Instead, she wandered around the campus for a while, trying to think of what to do. After walking around for at least a hour, the only person that she could think of was Ali, who didn't live too far from campus. 

"Well, I want to." Ali smiles. "It's a beautiful day to walk and I would love to meet William since you have talked so much about him. Besides, I really don't have any plans today." She, in fact, did have plans-she was supposed to have girl day with some of her girlfriends-but had texted them not too long ago and said something had come up. She was hoping to use brunch as an excuse to get William alone for a few minutes. After watching Emma cry herself to sleep last night, she decided that she wasn't sure if she was wiling to wait for Emma to open up. And maybe talking to William might shed some light on a few things.

"Oh, of course." Emma does not sound convincing. "William would love to meet you." 

WTH? WHY ARE YOU BAILING ON BRUNCH?-Ali's phone suddenly lights up. It's Ash. Ali quickly types in: TAKING EMMA TO MEET HER BROTHER. EXPLAIN LATER. Almost immediately, Ash texts back: EVERYTHING OKAY? Ali looks over to where Emma is still touching her forehead and types: NO. A minute later: TEXT ME WHERE YOU ARE GOING TO BE. I WILL MEET YOU.

"So, hey...."Ali says casually. "Do you mind if Ash and I both crash your brunch?"

"Um....sure." Emma nods. The idea clearly horrifies her but they have been so nice to her, she didn't want them to think she was ungrateful.

"Great!"

"Uh, Ali?" Emma suddenly looks uncomfortable. 

"Yeah?" Ali turns to her.

"Do you have a hat that I can borrow?" 

......................................................................................................................................................................................................  
William gets to the restaurant first. He is completely hungover from last night's party but orders a bloody mary anyway. He had just turned 21 a month ago so it was weird not to have to use a fake ID. 

"Sorry, I am a little late." Emma appears at the table a few minutes later-wearing a wrinkled shirt, two different shoes, and a PSU baseball hat. William's attention, however, is not on his sister's odd choice of clothing but the girl with her-a girl that looks an awful lot like Ali Krieger. 

"William, this is Ali." Emma tries not to smile as William fumbles all over himself to stand up. 

"Wow! My friends are not going to believe this one when I tell them," he says to Ali. "I watched all the World Cup games. You guys are amazing."

Ali blushes slightly. She hadn't quite gotten used to all the post-World Cup attention. "It's really nice to meet you. Emma has told me a lot about you." 

It's his turn to blush. "I hope all good?" 

"Of course."

As they sit down, the waiter brings them some menus and two glasses of water with slices of lemon on the side. 

"So, Emma doesn't like to brag but I did hear something about her scoring a sick amount of goals a few weeks ago." William smiles at his little sister with affection. As Ali looks at him she can see the resemblance between the two. Both have the same dark brown hair, perfectly symmetrical features, and light blue eyes. They looked like kids out of a Ralph Lauren ad. 

"Yeah, she sure did!" Ali pokes Emma's arm. "Trying to talk her into doing a developmental program this winter."

William's smile fades. He doesn't say anything but Ali can sense that he doesn't like this idea. 

"So, William, do you play soccer?" Ali takes a sip of water.

"Yeah, I play club soccer at Georgetown." William shrugs nonchalantly. "Not really even close to your level. 

 

"Hey hey!" Ashlyn appears-wearing sunglasses, a gray t-shirt, large brimmed hat, and jeans. It takes William a second to recognize who she is, and when he does, his eyes widen.

"I forgot to tell you that Ashlyn Harris was coming to." Emma adds. 

"Wow! The guys are REALLY not going to believe me now." He extends his hand out to Ashlyn, who readily accepts it. 

"Seriously Emma?" Ashlyn reverts her attention to Emma's hat. "Ali has brainwashed you with PSU! We need to get you a UNC hat ASAP," she teases, flipping the brim of Emma's hat. It's a hard enough flick that the hat falls backwards, revealing Emma's long trail of stitches. 

........................................................................................................................................................................................................  
Brunch is awkward. Emma doesn't touch her food. Ash doesn't say a word. William is clearly uncomfortable but tries to engage in conversation. Ali does the same butis as equally uncomfortable.

"Excuse me," Emma pushes back her chair after they have eaten. "I have to use the bathroom."

Ash waits until Emma disappears into the ladies' room before finally saying something. "William, I realize that I just met you but are you going to sit there and pretend like nothing is going on with your dad?" She looks at him expectantly.

Ali cringes. She hadn't had the opportunity to talk to Ash about the conversation she had with her mother.

William pushes back his empty plate and looks at Ashlyn."Going on with what?"

"Really?" Ashlyn voice becomes cold. "Did you not see the GIGANTIC line of stiches on your sister's forehead? Are you going to tell me that she got it playing rugby or falling down on hardwood floors?" 

William flinches at the harshness of Ashlyn's words. 

"William..."Ali interjects in a more even tone. "Emma showed up on my doorstep last night with that on her head. She then cried herself to sleep. We are not accusing anyone of anything, we just want to know what happened."

"I don't know what happened." William says calmly. "Our dad has a temper, yes. He yells... a lot...A LOT. That's why I decided to go to boarding school. I wanted to live my life without him up in it every single minute." William looks at Ashlyn then Ali. "He is a jerk a lot of the times but he is not violent. He never touched me once, I swear. And he never touched our sister, Jane." 

"So where did Emma get the bruises and where did she get the stitches?" Ashlyn presses. 

William's eyes widen. "What bruises?"

"Emma had bruises on her back and down her arm a week ago. One looked like a handprint."

William seems very surprised by this. "I don't know. The last few times that I have seen Emma she mentioned that things weren't great at home...that he was always on top of her about something...but she never mentioned him touching her. We're close, so she would tell me if he was hurting her. I swear she would tell me."

Both Ali and Ashlyn grow silent. 

"Who do you think is hurting her if it is not your dad?" Ali finally says. 

"I don't know." William pushes his hand through his hair in frustration. "But I sincerely doubt it's my dad. Like I said, he's a jerk but he never laid a hand on me or our sister."

"Does she play rug...."Ashlyn starts to say but sees Emma making her way back to the table and stops.

Emma sits back down and looks at all three of them. Instantly, she realizes that they have been talking about her.

"Emma, I need you to tell me the truth." William sucks in a breath and looks at his sister. "Did dad do that to your head?"  
.........................................................................................................................................................................................................  
Emma fiddles with her water straw as all three pairs of eyes focus on her. If she told them the truth then they would get the police involved. Then her dad would go to jail. Then he would lose his job. Then everyone would be mad at her for telling on him. Then she would have to face the humiliation at school. 

"No." She finally says, looking at all of them directly.

"Okay." William looks slightly relieved. "Then who did?"

"I can't tell you." A lie was formulating in her head but she just needed to buy a little time.

"So someone DID do this to you?" William says incredulously. 

Emma sits in her seat wordlessly.

"I swear to god, I am going to kill whoever did this." William's voice is shaking as he pulls back his chair. "We are going to go to the police station right now and you are....." 

Ali's mom's advice rings in her head and she jumps up out of her own chair. "William, let's go for a walk, okay? You are not helping Emma by getting angry."

William, not usually one for any sort of outburst, looks at Emma, looks at Ali, then quietly says. "Okay."

Ali takes him by the elbow. "C'mon. Let's walk down by the river, it's my favorite spot." She turns slightly to Ash. "Why don't you and Emma go for a walk, too."

"Good idea." Ash lays cash down for their bill then looks at Emma. "I think we need to wait in a ridiculously long line and get ourselves some Georgetown Cupcakes. Sound like a good idea?"

Emma nods even though she doubts that she can even swallow one bite of cupcake. 

"C'mon," Ashlyn pulls her up then puts an arm around her shoulder. 

They walk for a few blocks in silence.

"Emma, you don't have to tell me if you aren't ready to." Ash says, her arm still around Emma. "But I want you to know that I am here for you when you are ready to talk." 

Emma nods. "Thanks. That means a lot to me."


	8. Chapter 8

The week following my disastrous brunch with Ali and Ash, Dad does everything short of buying me a castle in Europe. He gives me $2,000 to buy clothes, buys me a flat screen TV for her room (something that I have been asking for, for a very long time), and then unexpectedly shows up at my clinic practice on Friday.

"Dad!" I jog out to him after her scrimmage ends. "What are you doing here?"

"Well, William keeps telling me how good you are so I thought I would come out and see for myself." He smiles. I had forgotten how his eyes crinkle up at the ends when he smiles. 

"Okay." I take a swig from her water bottle."Well, what did you think?"

"I don't know much about soccer but you looked good out there." 

"Hi Mr. Hall!," Lindsay makes a beeline for us. "You probably don't know me but you know my dad. He's on the school board."

Dad smiles absently. He could give two rips about Lindsays's dad, I can tell.

"Are those your coaches over there?" Dad points to where Ali and Ashlyn are teaching someone how to trap a ball with more precision.

"Yeah."

"I'd like to meet them."

I don't say anything for a minute. Why would he want to meet them?

"Uh. Okay." I reluctantly lead him out to where they are, Lindsay trailing behind me, naturally.

"So you are the coaches that William and Emma have been raving about!" He says before I can manage to introduce him first.  
Ali, especially, looks up at him in surprise.

"That would be us." Ali smiles then looks at me for any possible clues as to why dad is even here. Soccer clinic is nearly half over and she had yet to meet him-with the exception of that one time in the parking lot when he was yelling at me. "I'm Ali."

"Nice to meet you." He shakes Ali's hand.

"And I'm Ashlyn." Ashlyn extends her hand but I can tell by her face that he isn't dad's biggest fan.

"Well, since you have been so amazing to our girl, my wife and I would like to take you to dinner tomorrow evening."

I look at him in astonishment. Why, in God's name, would he want to invite them to dinner? He doesn't even want to have dinner with me most of the time. 

"Oh...um..." Ali looks as astonished .

"Yeah...um..."Ashlyn adds.

"Is Emma coming?" Ali looks at her.

"Of course. I think our other two children, Jane and William, will be there as well." He adds.

"Wait..." I suddenly say. "Jane is coming home this weekend?" And just when shethought things couldn't get weirder. 

"Yes." Dad flashes a fake smile. "So what do you ladies say? Morton's Steakhouse, 8:00?"

"Yes, of course we would like to come." Ali nods but looks uneasy at the thought. 

"Sounds great." Ashlyn echoes, looking as equally unsure.

"Fabulous." He claps a hand on my shoulder, something he never does. "See you then."

As they walk away, I hear Lindsay say. "Oh, my dad would love to take you out for dinner to. I will ask him and see what is a good day. You know how busy he is...."  
........................................................................................................................................................................................................

.......................................................................  
"What the hell was that all about?" Ashlyn says once Emma and her dad are out of ear shot.

"I don't know." Ali murmurs, shaking her head. "But something is up."

"Agreed." Ashlyn nods."If I were to guess though, I think he knows that Emma spent the night at your house on Saturday. He might be trying to cover his tracks."

"You could be right." Ali says. "Maybe William tipped him off?"

"Maybe." Ashlyn, suddenly chilled, pulls a sweatshirt over her head. 

"Do you believe William?" Ali suddenly looks at Ashlyn with intensity. "Do you believe that his dad never laid a hand on him?"

Ashlyn sucks in a deep breath then blows it out. "I don't know. If he didn't then his behavior is escalating."

Ali's stomach lunges at the thought. If Ash was right, then they needed to find out what was really going on with Emma before something bad really happens.

..................................................................................  
The entire Hall family is sitting primly in their chairs when Ali and Ashlyn arrive at dinner. Mrs. Hall, an attractive blond, is decked out in a Chanel suit and pearls. Jane, a spitting image of her mother, is dressed in Lily Pulitzer with several strings of pearls. William is in a suit, Emma is in a black cardigan with pearls, and Mr. Hall is in an Italian silk suit. They look like something out of Town & Country.

"Holy shit." Ashlyn say through gritted teeth as they approach the table.

"Yep." Ali whispers.

"Hello!" Mr. Hall, spotsthem first, quickly jumping out of his seat, the entire family then follows suit.

"Hi!" Ali flashes them her infamous smile. 

"Ali, Ashlyn, I would like you to meet my wife, Claudia Nisbett Hall," Mr. Hall gestures to his wife, who immediately holds out her hand.

"Lovely to meet you both." She shakes Ash's then Ali's hand.

"My daughter, Jane."

Jane smiles and shakes both hands.

"Of course you know Emma and William." Mr. Hall says. William waves slightly and Emma tries to smile. Ali, however, can tell that she's very uncomfortable with the entire situation.

"Shall we?" Mr. Hall gestures to two empty chairs that are in between Emma and William. 

Ali takes the seat next to Emma. She gives her a knowing smile. Emma returns the smile as though to say,"I'm sorry for this."

"I took the liberty of ordering a bottle of wine." Mr. Hall gestures to a bottle of Cabernet Sauvignon that has been uncorked. 

"That's lovely thank you." Ali says.

Mr. Hall snaps his finger and a waiter comes hurrying over.

"Maurice, would you be so kind as to pour these ladies a glass of wine?" Mr. Hall winks at Ashlyn and Ali.

"Of course, Mr. Hall." He pours a small amount into each glass and looks at them expectedly. Both Ali and Ashlyn life up their glasses, take a sip, and nod approvingly. The waiter then pours them a full glass.

"A toast!" Mr. Hall lifts up his glass.

Everyone quickly lifts up their glasses.

"To Emma's excellent clinic coaches!"

"Hear hear!" Mrs. Hall chimes in.

"Cheers!" Ali clinks her glass with everyone and Ashlyn does the same.

..................................................................................  
2 1/2 hours later, Ashlyn and Ali leave the restaraunt together.

"Well, that was painful." Ashlyn finally says as they walk up the block.

"Yeah." Is all Ali can manage.

Mr. Hall did a majority of the talking throughout dinner. The topics ranged from all the sailing that they did as a family to the vacations that they loved taking together to the yearly pilgrimage to Aspen's slopes. 

"I can't believe he tried to write us a check for $250,000.00." Ash shook her head.

And then there was that. At the end of dinner he tried to give them $250,000.00 towards their next set of soccer clinics. Fortunately, Ashlyn was quick on her feet and told her he should use that money to sponsor Washington Spirit's next season.

"I know." Ali shoves her hands into her coat pocket. "Who does that?"

"Someone who is trying to buy us off." Ashlyn scoffs. "The man is not stupid. He knows we think something is up."

"Well, if we suspected before, we definitely do now." Ali says.

"Ali..." Ashlyn stops to look at her. "That guy is dangerous."

"I know." Ali admits quietly. "But we don't have any proof that he is hurting Emma. If we can't get her to talk to us then there is nothing we can do. If we accuse him without proof he'll get even."

"You're right. I know you're right." Ashlyn says, the frustration in her voice palpable. "But how can we stand back and wait for him to beat her again? You know, and I know, he smashed her head against God-only-knows what. If he is capable of that, what else is he capable of?"

"I don't know, Ash." Ali shakes her head. "We are just going to have to keep a close eye on her, I guess."

"Well clinic ends in a few weeks. Then we start training in January. What are we going to do then? We won't even be here to watch over her." 

"Well...." Ali says slowly."Let's hope Emma talks."

...........................................................................


	9. Chapter 9

Soccer clinic ends the week before Thanksgiving. At the last practice, I find myself both surprised at how much I'm going to miss seeing everyone every day after school-especially Ali and Ashlyn-and how much I learned about soccer. 

"You know I would love to still keep in touch with you." Ali says as we walk off the field after our last scrimmage.

"Me too." I smile. "Maybe you can come to one of my games this spring? If you have time, of course. I know you are going to be super busy." A week ago, both Lauren and I found out that we had made the developmental team for our city. Our training starts in January but games won't start until mid-March.

"I would love that." Ali stops to look at me. "I know your coach, Andreas, well so maybe he will even have me as a guest coach when I am in town.

"That would be awesome!" I grin. 

Ali reaches over and gives me an impromptu hug. "You call me if you ever need me, okay? You have my cell number, right?"

"Yeah," I say. She is holding me so tight that my voice is muffled against her shoulder. 

"I will gone for about three weeks but maybe when I get back we can go Christmas shopping or something fun like that." She finally releases me.

"Okay."

"Hello, there!" Dad, smartly dressed in a cashmere coat, suddenly appears out of nowhere. "Last day, eh?" He reaches out to tussle my hair. Things between us have actually been pretty good lately. He's been trying really hard not to yell and hasn't touched me since he put stitches in my head. I think maybe seeing me bleed all over his office scared him.

"Yeah, last day." Ali smiles. 

"Well, thanks for everything, again!" He puts a possessive arm around my shoulders. "Emma sure has learned a lot from you. Maybe we'll catch you at a Spirit's game this summer. Especially since my company has decided to sponsor the team."

"Wow." Ali doesn't seem surprised by this. "That was very generous of you."

Dad squeezes my shoulder. "It's the least I can do. So, Emma, we should be going. We are meeting Mom in the city for dinner."

"Oh, wow." I look up at him in shock. We never meet mom in the city for dinner. She's usually too busy to even eat dinner except if it comes in the form of a Chinese food carton. 

Ali reaches over to give me one last hug. "See you soon."

"Thanks again!" Dad reaches over, puts his arm back around me, and turns me so that I am facing away from Ali. "Shall we go?"

"Okay." I turn and give Ali one last wave. She almost looks sad as she gives me a half wave.

........................................................................................................................................................................................................."You okay?" Ashlyn, who had been within earshot of Ali, Emma, and Emma's dad, comes over to Ali's side.

"Yeah, I guess." Ali puts her hands on both hips. "The more he comes around, the more I dislike him. There is something so fake about him. And now that I won't be seeing Emma every day, I'm worried what is going to happen to her. She seems better lately...no bruises or anything that I can tell...but if he's done it before, he's going to do it again. Only we won't be around to notice it."

Ash lays a comforting hand on her shoulder. "Maybe we aren't the only ones who suspect? Maybe her teachers suspect too?"

Ali shakes her head. "I don't know but I can't shake the feeling that we are letting her walk back into the Lion's Den."

........................................................................................................................................................................................................  
Things get bad for me again a few weeks after Thanksgiving. Dad comes home drunk from a work function on a Friday evening and starts screaming at me for leaving my shoes in the foyer. 

"Emma! Get your ass down here!" He screams. 

I had been half-asleep, watching TV in my bedroom. The second I hear him yelling, though, I quickly jump up and practically run downstairs.

"How MANY god damn times do I have to tell you...." He slams the front door with a vengeance. "...stop leaving your shit in the foyer!"

Even a few feet away, I can smell the alcohol.

"Okay." I quickly run over to where my shoes are. As I am gathering them up, he kicks me in the back of the knees with his shoe. I lose my balance and fall. 

"Jesus Christ, you are such a klutz." He laughs. When he sees that there are tears forming in my eyes, however, he gets angry. Really angry. "You need to toughen up big soccer player!" He kicks me again. And again. And again. And again. 

"You are worthless." He finally says.

"But you've been so nice to me....." I sob, clutching my left side as pain surges down my left leg. "Why are you doing this?"

"Nice..."He lowers himself so that he's in my face, his breath almost unbearable to smell. "You think I have been playing nice because I feel bad for smacking your head into the desk? I could give two shits about being nice to you. I was just afraid that you were going to squeal on me to your little soccer friends."

I blink. Suddenly, everything makes sense to me...the dinner, the TV, the money...he had bought me off so I wouldn't tell.

"By the way..."He says almost in a whisper. "If you tell anyone about this...I will kill you."

.........................................................................................................................................................................................................  
Sunday morning, I get a text from Ali: HEY. BACK IN TOWN. LET'S DO SOME CHRISTMAS SHOPPING.:)

I carefully sit up in bed. The pain in my left side has gotten increasingly worse since Friday night-to the point where I can only take small breaths. Maybe if I walk around with Ali, it will feel better.

ME: OKAY. WHERE DO YOU WANT TO GO?

ALI: PENTAGON CITY MALL. I CAN COME GET YOU. :) 

ME: IT"S OKAY. MEGAN CAN DROP ME OFF. NOON?

ALI: OKAY. SEE YOU SOON!

I slowly climb out of bed to a nearby mirror. I carefully lift up my shirt-up and down my rib cage is a gigantic bruise the size of an orange. Dad's words then echo in my mind, "If you tell anyone about this...I will kill you."  
.........................................................................................................................................................................................................  
The second Ali sees me, her face lights up! "Hey you!" 

"Hey!" I force a smile. The walk from the car inside the mall has left me almost breathless.

"It's good to see you." She leans over to hug me. When she does, it makes my insides feel like they are going to explode. I quickly, however, blink back tears so she doesn't suspect anything.

"You,too." I pat her back with my right hand.

"So, where do you want to go first?" She releases me. "Or do you want to eat?"

Eating is the last thing I want to do right now so I opt to start shopping. As we go up the escalator, Ali notices that I am breathing funny.

"Are you okay?" She looks at my chest in concern. "It seems like you are having a hard time catching your breath."

I do my best to take in a deep breath. "Oh, really? It must be the cold weather or something."

Ali doesn't look convinced but she lets it go. By the time we reach Nordstrom's, our third store, I'm in a lot of pain, short of breath, and exhausted. 

"Emma, you don't feel good do you?" Ali looks straight into me as I half-heartedly pick up a sweater in bright orange.

I begin to sputter a lie but can't.

"What hurts?" Ali gently brushes my hair out of my face.

"I don't know exactly..." I manage to say. "My left side hurts but I feel like I can't breathe."

........................................................................................................................................................................................................  
Ali takes me to Columbia Hospital, the closest hospital to the mall. Because she isn't my guardian and doesn't have any sort of medical authority, Megan is ultimately called. She shows up less than 20 minutes after us. 

"Megan," I say after the Triage nurse leaves to find me a bed. "I really just want Ali to come back with me."

She looks hurt. "Why, Em? If you are sick then I need to take care of you. That is my job, to be here for you."

"Please?" I look at her pleadingly. The doctors, I have decided, are going to find my bruise and ask questions. If Megan is there when they do, I don't know what I will do or say. But Ali...Ali hasn't been around the last few weeks...so maybe I can get away with lying if it's just her in the room.

"Okay." Megan finally says. "If this is what you want then I will stay out in the waiting area."

I breathe a small, shallow sigh of relief. "It's what I want."

She nods then reluctantly backs out of the room. I can tell that I hurt her feelings but I really wasn't left much choice.

"Hey..." Ali comes in a few minutes later. "Megan says they are getting you a room?"

I nod.

She takes the seat next to me and puts a hand on my back. "How are you feeling?"

"A little...."I start to say but the triage nurse comes in with a wheelchair.

"We have a room ready for you." She says kindly. "Let's get you into the chair, alright?"

She, with Ali's help, situates me into the wheelchair, and wheels me through the emergency room doors. As we move through the hallway, I see an elderly lady on oxygen in a small curtained area. Further up, I see an entire family standing at the bedside of a little boy. This makes me panic a little bit. What if my parents are called? Dad flew to China last night so he probably wouldn't get the message but mom might. And if she gets a phone call, then what am I going to do?

"Alright, sweetie," the nurse says, wheeling me into a small room with a door instead of a curtain. "Let's get you into bed." Carefully, she helps me stand and use her arm as a support. Ali is behind her, biting her thumb nail and looking at me rather anxiously.

"Are we going to have to wait long before a doctor sees her?" She asks. "I mean she's totally out of breath."

"It shouldn't be too long at all." The nurse eases me into the bed. She then takes a thin blanket to cover me up.

"Thank you," I say, laying my head on the pillow. It smells like a hospital but at this point, I don't care.

"You're welcome, sweetie." She fluffs up the pillow a little. "You use the buzzer if you need anything, okay?"

.........................................................................................................................................................................................................  
It's not long before a nurse practitioner comes in to see me. She's young, pretty, and very perky.

"Hey! I'm Amy." She says, stopping directly above my head. "So nice to have someone young in here. I've been seeing old people all day." She winks.

I half-smile.

"So what's going on?" She settles onto a small, round stool, chart in hand.

"I've been having some pain in my side..." I begin.

"Okay. How long has this been going on?" She looks up from where she has been writing.

"Since Saturday morning." I quickly say. Dad had gone golfing first thing Saturday morning so this would at least give him an alibi.

"Alright. On a scale of 1 to 10, 10 being the worst pain you have ever felt, how bad is the pain?"

I pause for a minute. "Maybe a 7?"

"Okay." She writes this down. "Anything else?"

"Um, I've been short of breath." I admit.

"Alright...." She quickly puts down her chart. "Let's just take a quick look at your side."

My heart starts to beat faster but I calmly tell myself it will be okay if I just play it cool. 

"Sure."

She smiles, puts my chart at the foot of my bed, and stands up. "My hands might be a little cold. I'm sorry." She gently pulls up my shirt. When she sees the gigantic bruise on my side, her smile quickly fades. "Looks like you have taken quite the tumble," she says. Although her tone is even, I can tell she is shocked by how big it is.

Ali, who has quietly been sitting in a corner, quickly stands up and walks over to where Amy is standing. Her face goes a shade paler when she sees what Amy is looking at.

"Oh, yeah." I try to say as casually as I can, my dad's words running through my mind. "I secretly play rugby with some of the boys from school. They get a little rough."

Amy looks closer at my bruise but fortunately doesn't push on it. "Rugby. Rough sport. So this happened Friday night?"

"Uh-huh." I can't even look at Ali. 

"Alright." Amy pulls my shirt back down. "Let's get you into X-ray. After that, we will do an ultrasound to make sure you don't have anything going on with your belly." She looks at me kindly and gently reaches out to rub my arm. "It will be okay. We'll try to get it done as fast as possible."  
.........................................................................................................................................................................................................  
After the x-ray and ultrasound, they bring me back to the room. Ali, who has been sitting in a corner chair the whole time, looks up from her phone. 

"I'm keeping Megan updated." She says, standing up.

"Thanks." I wince as the orderly helps me back unto the bed.

"Sure." She says quietly. When the orderly leaves, she grabs my hand. "Emma, please, please tell me the truth." Her eyes, to my surprise, start to water. "Please tell me so that I can help you."

Hot tears form into the corners of my eyes. Before I can stop them, they spill down my face.

"Shhhh...it's okay..." Ali takes her thumb to catch some of my tears. "Please don't cry."

"I c-c-c-an't tell you..." I say suddenly.

"Why, why can't you tell me, honey?" Ali cups my face gently into her palm. "I can help you if you tell me the truth."

"You c-c-c-an't help me." I whisper. "No one c-c-c-a-n."


	10. Chapter 10

"Are you,mom?" The doctor looks at Ali expectantly.

Ali shakes her head 'no'. "I'm her...well...I'm her friend." She squeezes Emma's hand.

"Okay." The doctor turns to look at Emma. "Are your parents here by chance?"

"No." Emma says. "My mom is at work, I think, and my dad is in China. My nanny is in the waiting area though. She handles pretty much everything."

The doctor contemplates this for a moment. "Alright. I would like to talk to your nanny at some point but for now let's go through your results." He pulls out Emma's chart. "Emma, it looks like you have three broken ribs which is causing your shortness of breath. Fortunately, the ultrasound shows no damage to your spleen but one rib came dangerously close to puncturing it. Unfortunately, there's not a lot that I can do for broken ribs as they have to heal on their own. However, I will give you some medicine to help with the pain." He then directly looks at Ali. "I would like to keep her overnight just for observation. Can someone get a hold of her mother to let her know?"

Ali nods. "Yes."

"Good." He steps back on his heels then looks at Emma. "So this happened Saturday and the pain started today?" 

Emma nods. "Yes."

"So you played rugby on Saturday then you started feeling yucky today?" He repeats, looking intently at Emma.

"Uh-huh." Emma looks at him then Ali then back at him.

"Okay." He snaps Emma's file shut before touching Ali's shoulder. "I'm sorry, I don't think I caught your name?"

"I'm Ali." 

"Ali, would you mind pointing me in the direction of Emma's nanny?" He says kindly. "I would like to go through all of this with her."

"Sure." Ali gives Emma's hand one last squeeze then stands up. "I will be right back , okay?"

Emma nods. They had started an IV with pain medicine in it, which was now making her a little sleepy.

"How close are you with Emma?" The doctor says when they were safely out of Emma's earshot. 

"Um...well..." Ali is caught a little off-guard by his question. "I guess, we are just getting to know each other but she was in my soccer clinic for about 8 weeks. I guess I got to know her some there."

He keeps walking down the hall but doesn't say anything. He finally stops at a small lounge near the nurse's station. "Come on in here. I'd like to talk to you about something." He guides her in then shuts the door. "Have a seat," he gestures to a very uncomfortable looking couch.

Ali does as she is told but a sick feeling creeps up into her throat.

"Ali, ER nurses and doctors are trained to look for signs of abuse. In fact, nurses go through specific abuse training." He pauses. "If they suspect abuse then it becomes mandatory for them to report it."

"Okay. So what are you saying here?" A part of Ali feels relieved, another part feels scared for Emma.

"I'm saying that when a child comes in with injuries like Emma, red flags go up." He says matter-of-factly. "Especially when the child lies."

"How do you know she is lying?" 

"Amy, our nurse practioner asked her when the pain started and Emma told her that it started Saturday morning." The doctor, points on her chart to where Amy has written notes. "Just a few minutes ago she told me that she played rugby on Saturday then the pain started today."

Ali leans back in her seat. What does she do? Does she tell him what she has suspected all along and betray Emma? Or does she let the hospital handle it?

"You don't seem surprised by any of this." He says softly.

Ali looks him in the eye. "No."

"I suspect that you are in a really difficult position." He looks at her with sincerity. "You don't want to jeopardize Emma's trust but at the same time you're worried about her safety."

Ali nods, hot tears coming to her eyes. "She is so afraid. Like really afraid."

"In child abuse cases, the child is terrified of someone finding out." He looks down at his shoes for a moment. "They have usually been threatened and believe these threats with their whole hearts. They also feel this immense loyalty to the person who is doing it to them. They often feel that if they tell then they are going to hurt the person that is ironically hurting them."

"I think that's what's happening to Emma." Ali says earnestly. "She's terrified."

"I have probably reported at least 50 cases of child abuse in my career." He looks at Ali thoughtfully. "And in probably 95% of the cases, the child lies to CPS. Sure, there is an investigation but the child lies through it all. Eventually the cases become closed. Not too long after they end up back in the ER somewhere. Maybe not in my ER but another ER."

This is not what Ali wants to hear. She closes her eyes for a moment and tries to process what the doctor has just said.

"So, what are you guys going to do?" Ali opens her eyes back up. "Are you going to report this to child services?"

He sucks in a deep breath. "No. I am choosing not to file a report. And after talking with Amy, she is choosing not to file a report."

Ali looks at him incredulously. "Why not?!"

"For the same reason you haven't report it." He looks at her evenly. "You know who is doing this to Emma, or at least you have a strong idea, but you haven't reported it. It's because it will do Emma more harm than good. Emma has the power to make all of this stop but she is not there yet. She is going to continue protecting the person and lying until she reaches a breaking point."

"A breaking point?" Ali's eyes widen. "We have to wait for a breaking point? We can't do that."

"I had a case a year ago." He leans back into his seat. "A girl, sixteen years old. She kept coming into the ER with all kinds of things, broken arms, broken wrists, bruises. I finally decided to report it. CPS got involved, interviewed the family, and the girl lied through the entire thing. CPS didn't have enough to take her away from her family so they closed the case. She ended up back in the ER two months later with a concussion. She even specifically asked that I not be the doctor to see her."

"Why...." Ali puts her head in her hands. "Why wouldn't she get away from who was hurting her?"

"Because she couldn't." The doctor says firmly. "She had loyalty to her father. And it's the same thing with Emma. Whoever is hurting her has almost like a magical power over her." 

"So, we just hand Emma back and let her get beaten again?" Ali says in disbelief.

"Yes." He says quietly. "But you can do something for her. You can be there for her whenever she needs you. And maybe when she's ready to confide in someone, you will be that person. Then you will have the power to help her."

Ali can't think of anything else to say.

"We're going to move her into a regular room." The doctor rises from his chair. "Take all the time you need to think about this and when you are ready, go to Emma." He then quietly leaves without saying another word. 

.........................................................................................................................................................................................................  
"So Emma has been playing rugby on the sly?" Megan repeats back.

Ali nods. "Yep."

"Wow." Megan blows out a breath. "How could I have missed that? I am around her all the time."

"I guess she is good at keeping secrets?" Ali sheepishly offers. If Megan only knew how good she was at keeping secret.

"And they are keeping her overnight?" Megan starts to get up. "I should probably get up to her room and make sure she has everything she needs."

Ali gently grabs her wrist. "Why don't you let me stay with her tonight? And in the morning, we can switch out?"

Megan looks uneasy at the prospect of this idea. "I don't know. I haven't been able to get a hold of her mom and I don't know what she would want me to do."

"I'll tell you what..."Ali interjects smoothly. "If you hear from her mom and she doesn't want me with Emma then we can switch out."

"This is what Emma wants, isn't it?" Megan looks a little deflated.

"Yes. But don't take offense to it." Ali smiles kindly. "I'm kind of like a new commodity. I'm sure I will get old soon."

Megan half-smiles. "Well, you did win the World Cup."

"Right?" Ali forces a laugh. 

"Okay." Megan says decidedly. "I have your cell number so if things change, I will send you a text. Just text me every so often with an update."

"I will."

.........................................................................................................................................................................................................  
The hospital room is dark except for a beam of light shining under the door. Although I have had some medicine to help me sleep, I still can't fall asleep. I look over at Ali, who is sleeping on a nearby couch, and quietly turn on the TV.

"Em?" Ali bolts up. "You okay?"

"Yeah." I whisper back. "I'm sorry, I didn't mean to wake you up."

"It's okay." Ali sits up. "What time is it?"

"Not sure..." I scan the room for a clock. "1:00 AM."

"Are you in pain? Do you need me to get a nurse?"

"No." I shake my head. "I just can't sleep."

"Oh." Ali gets up. "Is there anything good on TV?"

"Not so far..."I keep flipping through the channels.

"Scoot over...." Ali motions for me to move over in my already cramped hospital bed. The thought of having someone with me, however, sounds really good, so I do.

"Hold it right there!" Ali laughs as the channel flips to Fresh Prince of Bel Air. "This is one of my favs."

"I don't think I have ever seen it." I admit, putting the remote down onto a nearby nightstand.

"Seriously? It's a classic." She puts her arm around my shoulder and lays her head unto my head. "And Will Smith is a hottie."

I smile then look up at her. "Ali?"

"Yeah."

"Thanks for this."

She squeezes my shoulder and kisses the top of my head. "You're welcome."

.........................................................................................................................................................................................................  
Emma finally falls asleep around 4:00 AM. And even though Ali's arm has gone numb, she keeps it around her. Emma's hair is a little damp around her forehead, so Ali gently wipes the sweat with her other hand. As she is doing so, a thought occurs to her: this is what being a mother must feel like. To want to protect someone at all costs. To hold them when they are hurting. To be there for them when they need you. 

Emma stirs slightly and Ali whispers quietly into her hair. "Shhhh....you're safe with me."


	11. Chapter 11

Megan finally gets a hold of my mom the following morning. Mom, naturally, has a series of meetings that she can't get out of so she sends William to do her bidding. In fact, I think Mom's exact words to Megan were, "Oh no! Tell her that I will try to get home and see her tonight."

"Hey!" William knocks on the room door just as I am gathering up my things to leave as the e doctor just cleared me about 15 minutes ago to go home. He told me that I can't do any physical activity for a month but I should heal up okay.

"Hey." I slip a sweater over my head. Megan, God bless her, had brought me some clean clothes. 

"How are you feeling?" He says. His face is unusually flushed and his tone is a little edgy.

"Better." I look over at Ali who, hasn't left the hospital since I was admitted. She stands up from her chair in the corner, sensing that William is upset. 

"Broken ribs, Emma?" He gets straight to the point. 

"Yes, William. Broken ribs." I look him squarely in the face. I really don't know what else to say. And lying is certainly out of the question.

He sucks in an annoyed breath. "Stitches. Broken ribs. What's next, Emma?" 

"William...." I find myself getting surprisingly angry. "Back off."

He looks at me in astonishment. I don't think I have ever talked to him this way before. 

"Emma, if you are in trouble, you need to talk to me." His voice becomes hard. "Do you have a boyfriend who is doing this to you? Is this what this is all about? Are you dating someone? Are you...are you dating someone...older than you?" His face looks like he just sucked on a lemon.

I lower my head. If I tell him, if I tell him the truth, then what will happen to our family? It's already pretty much a mess. Mom is never around. Dad is barely around and when he is, well, it's a nightmare. Jane is off doing her own thing. If I tell then our family is ruined.

"William......." I look at him squarely in the eyes. "Please...just....just...back off."

"Okay." His jaw clenches. "But if I find out who is doing this, they are going to wish that they never laid a finger on you." He pauses, his voice raising an octave. "And winter break is coming up. I was going to go skiing with the guys but I have decided to stay home. While I am home, I am going to shadow you wherever you go. Megan may as well take a few weeks off because I am going to drive you wherever you need to go, pick you up when you need to be picked up, and basically be your Siamese twin." His face tells me that he is not joking.

"That is the stupidest thing I have ever heard!" I look at Ali for help. She just stuffs her hands in her pocket and looks at the floor. "You can't do that!"

"Try me." He folds his arms over his chest. 

A lump suddenly forms in my throat. I swallow it then croak, "Why are you doing this?"

"Because I love you." He says, tears forming in his eyes. "And I am trying so hard to be understanding."

Ashamed, I look down at my hands. Suddenly, he reaches out and pulls me into a tight hug. 

"Do you know how hard it is to sit back and watch someone hurt my baby sister? Do you?" He starts to sob into my hair. 

I just stand motionless in his arms.   
........................................................................................................................................................................................................  
"So, the hospital didn't report it?" Ashlyn says incredulously. 

"No." Ali plops down unto the couch, exhausted. 

Ashlyn hands her a plate of homemade mac' and cheese, her goto comfort food.

"So...."Ashlyn sits down on a nearby overstuffed chair with her own plate of food. "Does she have any other family that can maybe remove her from the situation for a while?"

"I don't know." Ali pokes at her food. "We really never talked about it."

"Huh." Ashlyn thinks on this for a few minutes. "And her mom never showed up at the hospital?"

"Nope."

"That's pretty shitty." Ash leans back in her chair. "Do you think we should talk to William directly? Tell him what we suspect?"

"No." Ali's eyes widen at the thought. "If we do that then we risk alienating Emma. If Emma alienates us then we won't be able to help her. My mom and the doctor both told me that we have to have her trust in order to help her."

"Yeah....you're right." Ashlyn takes a bit of food and chews on it absently. "How long do you think this has been going on?" 

"I don't know." Ali sets her plate down unto the coffee table. "Probably most of her life." The thought makes her sick.

Ash doesn't say anything for a very long time. Finally, she looks at Ali and says, "If he can break her ribs...smash her head...give her a bloody lip...do you think he will go too far and...." She stops. She can't even get the words out.

Ali, knowing exactly what Ash is thinking. "I don't know."

.........................................................................................................................................................................................................  
Christmas break is spent skiing in Aspen with Julia and her family. William, true to his word, becomes my shadow. Less than 24 hours after our arrival, he shows up in Aspen with some of his friends from boarding school. Even though his friends hit the slopes, he spends the entire time, trailing Julia and I through Aspen's shops. 

"So....why is William even out here if he is not going to ski?" Julia finally asks me one afternoon.

"I don't know. I think he is having trouble with his girlfriend and is not up for doing much." This isn't entirely a lie. William's girlfriend was really angry when he told her he wasn't going to meet her in Charleston for New Year's Eve.

"Boys are stupid. They never realize what's important to girls" Julia laughs. "Like...Eliza is still mad at her boyfriend for not coming out to ski in Aspen...from like...two years ago." Eliza being her older sister.

"Yep." I look over to where William is sitting on a small bench, rubbing his gloved hands together. We have been shopping for over three hours and he has spent his time mainly outside, waiting for us on various benches.

"So, is he going to be here until New Year's?"

"Probably." I force a smile. I had been hoping that William wouldn't have followed through with his threat but it looks like he had been dead serious. 

"Dumb ass." Julia giggles as we both watch William blow hot breath into his hands.

........................................................................................................................................................................................................  
USWNT training for Ali and Ashlyn begins in mid-January. Before Ali flies out, she has lunch with Emma.

"So, how much longer is William home for?" Ali casually asks before biting into her cheeseburger.

"Um, another week, I think?" Emma takes a sip of her soda. "He plans on coming home every weekend, though."

This makes Ali feel slightly better. She has had knots in her stomach all week at the prospect of being on the other side of the country for two months. 

"Cool." Ali swallows a bit of food. "How did practice go this week?"

Emma had gotten cleared to play soccer again on Monday and had just completed her first week of developmental training. 

"It was great. And you were right, Andreas is cool." Emma smiles a bit mischievously. "Lauren, of course is in training and so is Lindsay."

Ali grins. "How is Lindsay?"

"Oh just fabulous." Emma does her best to take on a snotty tone."Her dad supposedly has turned their backyard into a mini soccer field."

"Of course." Ali laughs.

"Of course." Emma puts a few fries in her mouth and looks at Ali. It's not like Ali is going to be staying in California forever but she knows that these next eight months are going to be different than the last few months have been. Ali is going to have to split her time between the USWNT and Washington Spirit, which means that she won't have much time for Emma. This, surprisingly, makes Emma feel anxious. Not having Ali nearby has somehow made life a little bit more bearable.

"Ali?" Emma says suddenly.

"Yeah?"

"I'm going to miss you."

"I'm going to miss you too." Ali reaches out for Emma's hand and squeezes it.


	12. Chapter 12

"Hey, Kriegs!" Kelley O'Hara jogs over to where Ali is sitting down, swigging from a water bottle. The team had just finished one of their last practices of camp and Ali was exhausted. In a few days, she would be travelling back to D.C., hanging out for a week, then joining the team in England for a match against England. 

"We are going to go out for some beer and Karoke tonight. You in?" Kelley, her freckled face engulfed in a smile, looks down at Ali.

Ali nods. "Yeah, I am in." Training has been good but challenging. There were some new girls to the squad and they had spent a better part of training learning each other's quirks.

"You are totally going to get schooled." Kelley grins. "I have been practicing."

Ali laughs and shakes her head. "That, I don't doubt."

"Whatever O'Hara." Crystal Dunn sails by them. "Not only can I sing but I got moves too." She stops, breaks into a small hip hop dance, then continues to walk.

Ali and Kelly both laugh.

"Alright, I'll see you."

Ali puts down her water bottle and pulls out her cellphone from her bag. Her heart plunges when she sees a bunch of missed calls and a message from an unknown 703 number-the area code for Northern Virginia. Her hands shake as she presses the button for voicemail.

"Um...I think this is the right number." A relatively familiar voice says. "I'm trying to reach Ali. This is William Hall. Um. When you get a chance, can you please call me back?"

Ali quickly gets out of voicemail and dials his number. He almost immediately picks up.

"Hey, William..." Ali tries to say casually, even though her heart is about to thump out of her chest. "What's going on?"

"Ali..." She could tell that he had been crying. "It's Emma."

.........................................................................................................................................................................................................  
With Coach Jill's blessing, Ali takes a redeye into Washington National. From there she takes a cab directly to D.C. Children's Hospital. 

"I'm looking for Emma Hall's room?" Ali says to the front desk clerk. The desk clerk, an older woman with thick glasses, quickly types into a computer.

"Emma Hall is in the PICU." The lady peers at Ali from above the rim of her glasses. "I'm going to need your ID first. And then I am going to have to get permission from the family for you to go up."

Ali quickly fumbles inside her purse for her ID. "Here." 

The lady takes her ID, picks up the phone, and starts dialing. After a moment she says, "Hi, this is Bernadette from the front desk. I have a Miss Ali Krieger here. She wants to see Emma Hall?" 

Ali does her best not to reach over the counter and grab the phone herself. The flight was excruciatingly long, the cab ride even more so, and she was running out of patience. All she wanted right now was to get to Emma's bedside.

"Uh-huh. Okay, I will send her up." The woman hangs up the phone. She doesn't say a word, types something into a computer, and seconds later prints out a visitors' sticker for Ali to wear on her shirt. "She's in room 507. Her brother and mother are there but her mother is going to be headed home soon so you can stay with Emma. They only allow two people to be in the room at a time."

"Thanks." Ali grabs the sticker, slaps it on her shirt-a training shirt that she has had on since yesterday afternoon-and hurries towards the elevator. The elevator doors open and a couple with a little girl in a wheelchair comes out.

"Mom!" The little girl in the wheelchair says. "That's Ali Krieger!" They all stop. 

"You're my favorite player!" She squeals. She can't be more than eight so Ali feels obligated to say something.

"Thank you so much!" Ali manages a smile.

"It's so nice of you to visit children in the hospital." The mom says enthusiastically.

"Can you autograph my cast?" The little girl points to the large, florescent pink cast on her leg.

"Sure."

The mom miraculously pulls out a pen. Ali takes it from her, scribbles her name with a little get well message, and hands it back to her.

"Thank you!" The little girl's eyes widen. "My friends at school are NOT going to believe this."

Ali smiles. "Okay, well take care now. Don't go break any more legs, okay?" 

The little girl eagerly nods as Ali steps unto the elevator that the dad had been holding for her. When the door closes she leans up against the side. The combination of lack of sleep and food was making her almost feel ill.

.........................................................................................................................................................................................................  
Ali steps unto the PICU floor. Typical of a hospital, the hall was a stark, blinding white. 

"Can I help you find a room?" A passing nurse stops as she sees Ali just standing there.

"Um." Ali fumbles. "I am looking for room 507?"

"Oh, go down here..." the woman points left. "Take your first right. It will be your third room on the left."

Ali quickly makes her way down to Emma's room, passing dark rooms with blinking lights. Some rooms had whole families in them, others just had a child in it. When she gets to Emma's room she can barely see inside. The room was very dark whereas the hallway was very white.

"Ali...thanks for coming..."William, who had been sitting by Emma's bedside, quickly gets up when he sees her.

Ali can't do anything but look down at Emma. A large white bandage is wrapped around her head, a large ventilator tube is in her mouth, and a large IV line is hooked up to her arm. If she didn't know any better, she would have mistaken Emma for another child.

"How is she?" Ali finally asks.

"There's not much change since last night." William nearly looks like he is going to pass out. "The doctor said that we will know more in about 48 hours. That's when the brain swelling is supposed to start going down. And it's already been 24 hours since her surgery." 

"Where's your mom?" Ali looks around but there is no trace of Emma's mother.

William's eyes fill up. "She had to go down to the police station. A few detectives showed up about a half hour ago and asked her to come back to the precinct with them. I don't know why they need to talk to her. She was at a client dinner when all of this happened."

Ali reaches out to stroke Emma's hand. 

"Have you gotten any sleep?" Ali looks across at William. His hair was disheveled, his oxford shirt was wrinkled and untucked, and his face was blotchy.

"No." He shook his head. "I have been here since yesterday morning."

"Go home." She says firmly. "I will be here with her. Go home and get some sleep."

"What if she wakes up?" He looks anxiously over at Emma. "I need to be here when she wakes up."

"I will call you." Ali assures him gently. "You need to get some sleep and then come back for her."

.........................................................................................................................................................................................................  
William, after a hour, finally takes Ali's advice and leaves. When he does, Ali grabs Emma's hand and starts to talk to her.

"You are going to be okay, sweetheart." Ali whispers. "And when you wake up, I will be here with you. William will be here. Megan will be here. We all think you are an amazing kid so when you wake up we are all going to be here for you." Ali brings Emma's limp hand to her cheek.

The only sounds that respond to Ali are the slow swoosh of the ventilator and the constant beeping of the heart monitor. Ali, despite herself, breaks down. She lays her head on Emma's arm and sobs. Emma had sounded great on the phone the few times that she had talked to her. She was doing well in soccer. She had gotten all A's in the first semester at school. She had made the tennis team for the spring season. She had done a ballet solo in her studio's winter showcase. And she had also mentioned that William had come home every weekend like he said he would. Ali really, truly thought things were going just a little bit better.

Until, of course, William's phone call yesterday.

According to William, he had left their house to go back to Georgetown around 7 o'clock Sunday night. Their father had left for an international flight from Dulles shortly before. Their mother was at a dinner with friends. At about 7:30, a half-hour after he left, 911 received a phone call from Emma's phone. All the operator could hear was a girl-or what she thought was a girl-moaning 'help'. The operator dispatched an ambulance just in case it was an elderly person who had fallen. When the EMTs got there, they found Emma lying in a pool of blood. The bleeding, they discovered was coming from her left ear. They then called for an airlift that quickly flew Emma to D.C. Children's. Once there, a CT showed brain trauma due to an unknown blunt force. Emma then underwent emergency surgery.

"We are just here to check her vitals." A nurse quietly walks over to where Ali is. 

"When do you think she is going to wake up?"

The nurse looks at her kindly. "With brain trauma, it's a waiting game. The swelling on her brain has to go down before anything else."

SWELLING ON HER BRAIN. Ali's nausea suddenly morphs into anger. Before she makes a fool out of herself she quickly drops Emma's hand. "I think I am going to go out for a quick walk." 

........................................................................................................................................................................................................  
I AM AT THE AIRPORT. TRYING TO GET OUT ON THE NEXT FLIGHT. Ali receives a text from Ash the second she steps out of the hospital doors.

JILL IS LETTING YOU GO? Ali quickly types.

YEAH. I COULDN'T CONCENTRATE ON ANYTHING. ANY NEWS?

NO. EMMA IS STILL IN A COMA. Ali feels harsh writing it but she was telling the truth.

I AM ON MY WAY. HANG IN THERE. GIVE EMMA A KISS FOR ME.

.........................................................................................................................................................................................................  
"So you have no idea who could have done this to your daughter?" The detective looks at Mrs. Hall. Even under the current circumstances she looked put together, something that heightened his suspicion even more.

"No." She shakes her head. "I already told you, I don't have any idea. My husband doesn't have many enemies...I mean he has a couple of people who dislike him but no one who would do something like this."

The detective taps his fingers. "Speaking of your husband. Let's talk about him a little more. Your son said that he left the house for a flight at 7:00 PM?"

"Yes, that's right."

"What if I were to tell you that Dulles footage shows him coming into the airport at 8:15." The detective leans back. He wasn't sure how far he was going to get with this one.

"I wouldn't think much of it."Mrs. Hall scowls. "Traffic can be sporadic. You live in this area, you should know that."

"Fair enough." The detective smiles. "So, just a few more questions. What size shirt does your husband wear?"

Mrs. Hall looks downright pissed now. "Detective, I think you are wasting my time. The time, incidentally, that should be spent at the hospital. I mean my daughter is in a coma for God's sake."

"I am going to have you out of here very soon." He says nonchalantly. "So what's his shirt size?"

"16 35, I think." She sighs.

The detective pulls out a shirt from an evidence bag. "This 16 35 Brooks Brother shirt look familiar to you?" 

Mrs. Hall doesn't even need to say anything to give him the answer he had been looking for. The shirt, a sharp pinstripe, had a splattering of blood in the belly area of the shirt-like someone had leaned over someone who was bleeding.

"This was found buried in the trash of the men's bathroom at Dulles." The detective leans over the table for effect. "Someone tried hard to dispose of it but a janitor noticed it because it was the last thing he saw while emptying the trash into a bigger garbage can."

Mrs. Hall looks at the shirt in horror. 

........................................................................................................................................................................................................  
"Hey." Ali feels a hand stroke her hair. She had fallen asleep holding Emma's hand. William had come back to the hospital for a few hours, received a phone call from his mom, and then left without any explanation. He did, however, ask Ali to stay with Emma until he got back.

"You're here." Ali looks up at her gratefully.

"Yeah." Ash reaches out to touch Emma's leg. "That mother fucking bastard." She whispers into the dark room.

"Huh?"

"That mother fucking bastard." Ashlyn repeats, saying it louder. "If William doesn't get to him first, I am going to kill him."

"Shhhh......" Ali puts a finger to her lips.

"Ali...."Ashlyn doesn't care at this point. "Who does this to a little girl? Emma...she may be thirteen...but she's still a little girl. She's never had a boyfriend...never driven...never had an alcoholic drink...she's a little girl." Ashlyn, to Ali's surprise, buries her hands in her faces and starts to cry.

"I know..." Ali quickly scrambles to get up. She puts her arms around Ash and hugs her. Ashlyn, shoulders shaking, wraps her arms around Ali's waist. For the longest time they hold each other and cry...the sound of Emma's ventilator swooshing in the background.


	13. Chapter 13

William doesn't return back to the hospital until the middle of the night. Ali, who had been up for nearly two days, had gone home to sleep for a few hours, leaving Ashlyn holding Emma's hand.

"Hey...."Ashlyn looks up as William comes into the room. 

"I'm sorry..."He rubs his eyes with the back of his hand. "I'm sorry that I've been gone so long. It's just that my mom...well...my mom..." his voice trails off. 

"It's okay." Ashlyn says softly. She can tell that he is teetering on the edge of breaking down. "Do you want to go for a walk? I could use a break."

"No....."He shakes his head vehemently. "I don't want to leave her alone."

"I understand." Ashlyn looks over at Emma. The neurologist had stopped in to check on Emma. He didn't say much but told Ashlyn that he would be back tomorrow.

"My mother was supposed to come back with me." William slumps into a chair by Emma's bedside. "But after meeting with the detectives she was really upset. I drove her home from the police station and she went up to her bedroom. Shut the bedroom door. I could hear her crying. She never cries." 

"William, maybe you should go home and be with her?" Ashlyn suggests gently. "I'm not going anywhere. I can stay with Emma as long as you need me to. And Ali is going to be back in the morning to relieve me."

William shakes his head. "It won't do any good. She won't talk to me right now. I don't know if it's because she can't get a hold of my dad or...."

An alarm bell goes off in Ashlyn's head. "You're dad doesn't know that Emma is here?"

"I don't know." William takes Emma's other hand and looks intently at his sister. "The one thing my mom did manage to say in the car was 'they can't find your dad'."

Ashlyn, not wanting to upset him further, doesn't say anymore. 

.........................................................................................................................................................................................................  
Detective Blackburn thought he was alone until his partner, Detective Callahan, plopped a large cup of coffee on his desk.

"Dunkin Donuts. You spoil me." Blackburn eagerly picks up the still steaming hot coffee. "I thought you had left for the night. Denise is going to kill you for staying out this late."

"Yeah, well, when I called Denise to tell her that we have a MIA father and a little girl with a bashed in head....she told me to do my job and find the son of a bitch." Callahan sits down.

"Well, it's afternoon in Shanghai and sources tell me that Mr. Hall is going to be out of a meeting soon." Blackburn takes a sip of his coffee. "Did you know Officer Wang speaks fluent Mandarin? That really came in handy."

"I bet." Callahan props his feet up on the desk. "So, what do we know so far about Hall?" 

"Born with a silver spoon in his mouth. Family owns one of the oldest brokerage firms in Manhattan. From what I can tell, they are squeaky clean as far as Wall Streeters go." 

"And?"

"Ivy league for college. Ivy league for grad school. Marries an Ivy League law girl. Has Ivy League kids." Blackburn flips open a file. 

"Where are our red flags?" Callahan's eyebrows arch in curiosity. "We don't see white collar guys bashing in their kid's head very often."

"Funny that you mention that..."Blackburn slides the file across to Callahan. "I have a good place for us to start."

........................................................................................................................................................................................................  
"How's our girl?" Ali whispers to Ashlyn. It's 8:00 AM and Ashlyn has been up pretty much the entire night. William, exhausted, had fallen asleep on the small pullout couch.

"The same." Ashlyn reaches out to squeeze Ali's hand. 

"There can only be two people in the room so why don't you go home and catch some sleep." Ali squeezes Ash's hand back.

"Yeah. I will." Ash looks up at Ali then over to William to see if he was still sleeping. When she realizes he is, she motions for Ali to come closer. 

"What's up?"

"They can't find the dad." Ashlyn whispers.

Ali looks astonished. "What do you mean they can't find him?"

Ashlyn shrugs. "I don't know. But William said he picked up his mom from the police station, brought her home, and then heard her crying in the bedroom."

Ali tries to take this in.

"Ali...I don't think Emma's mom knew about any of this."

.........................................................................................................................................................................................................  
"Got 'em." Callahan slaps the search warrant on Blackburn's desk.

"Wow. That was fast. Judge Shapiro must have been in a good mood this morning." Blackburn eyes up the warrants in front of him. "One for his office and one for his house, eh?"

"Yep." 

"Okay. Let's go." Blackburn grabs his suit jacket from the back of his chair and throws it on. 

.........................................................................................................................................................................................................  
"Mom....I DON'T care that there are police officers at our house. You have nothing to hide." William is visibly shaking as he yells into his cellphone. "You need to get your ass down here and be with Emma. What kind of fucking mother leaves her daughter alone in intensive care for almost 24 hours?" 

Ali watches from Emma's bedside as William's face goes a deep shade of red. 

"Fine." William snaps. "But if she dies, you will have to live with the guilt for the rest of your fucking life." He clicks his phone off and chucks it halfway across the room.

"You know, we could both use some fresh air." Ali lets go of Emma's hand. "She will be okay for a few minutes."

William shakes his head. "Un-fucking believable. Jane called a half hour ago. Do you know what my mom had told her? My mom told her that Emma had a little accident but is going to be fine. She told Jane not to come home."

Ali stares at him in disbelief.

"Jane is headed to the airport now to come here." He vents. "How could my mother do this? How could she do this? Emma is her daughter and she can't even get her....."He stops. For several minutes he just stands there. Then, out of nowhere, he puts his face into his hands and starts to sob. "What if she doesn't wake up.....what if this is..."

Ali crosses the room to hold him. 

"We can't think like that right now." Ali whispers into his shoulder. "We have to be strong for Emma. You have to be strong for Emma. We are what Emma has right now. You, me, Ash, and soon Jane. We all have to be positive."

William buries his head into Ali's hair and sobs. Ali had seen her brother, Kyle, cry before, but not heart-wrenching sobs like this. 

"They can't find my dad." William chokes. "The police are at my house....."

"It's okay..." Ali holds him tighter. "Don't worry about that right now."

"I think he d-d-d-I-d this to her...." William whispers.


	14. Chapter 14

Jane shows up mid-afternoon, so Ali opts to go home with the promise of returning after dinnertime. As she is settling into her bed for a nap, she decides to quickly update Ash with a text.

NAPPING AT HOME FOR A WHILE. JANE AND WILLIAM WITH EMMA.

A few minutes later, Ashlyn types. JUST GOT UP. GOING TO WORK-OUT FOR A FEW HOURS. MEET YOU BACK AT THE HOSPITAL?

YEAH. I WILL PROBABLY BE BACK THERE AROUND EIGHT. Ali is so exhausted that she is a little blurry-eyed as she texts. 

DID THE MOM EVER SHOW UP?

NO. NOT SURE WHERE SHE IS AT. WILLIAM WAS THE ONE TO PICK UP JANE AT THE AIRPORT. Ali seethes as she types. As the hours ticked by, Ali got angrier.

WHAT A SHITSHOW.

YEP.

............................................................................................................................................................................................................  
"Hate to say it but attempted murder charges are the least of Hall's worries." Blackburn stops at Callahan's desk with a rather grim look on his face. "Just got off the phone with my friend at the FBI. Evidently, Hall has been under surveillance for a year."

"Not surprising." Callahan looks up from his pastrami and rye sandwich. "What's he under surveillance for?"

"For starters...."Blackburn flips open his notepad. "He's directly linked to many corrupt Russian and Chinese mid-level officials."

"Nice."

"Then we get into the fancy accounting. He's got personal accounts in Luxembourg, Switzerland, Isle of Mann."

"Speak English, Blackburn." Callahan wipes his face with a napkin.

"He's selling his own company's secrets to the Russian and Chinese government. Taking the money and sticking them into tax havens." Blackburn scrolls through his notes. "Shit started going to pot about a year ago when Luxembourg started getting pressure from the U.S. to stop harboring tax evaders. State department, CIA, FBI, one of them, got a hold of a list of all American bank holders in Luxembourg. Hall's account is or was significant so it was flagged. Then the FBI started connecting dots with all of his relationships. They are pretty close to having enough evidence to nail his ass to the wall."

"You said the account 'was' significant?" Blackburn looks at him sharply. "Where the fuck did the money go?" 

"It was emptied out a week ago."

"Jesus Christ." Callahan wipes off the mustard at the corner of his mouth. "Do you think he knew he was under surveillance?" 

"Maybe."

"So he realizes he's in deep shit and takes it out on his kid?"

"Certainly a motive."

"I want that son-of-a-bitch." Callahan points his index finger at Blackburn. "Do we have an update on where he is?"

"No." So far, Hall had managed to allude them. Even Hall's secretary, a timid thirty-something, had lost track of him. It was like he had disappeared into thin air. 

........................................................................................................................................................................................................  
"Are you sure you can both stay the night?" Jane looks at Ali and Ashlyn worriedly. 

"Yeah, no, we got this." Ashlyn reaches out to touch her arm. Jane, startled, pulls it back.

"I'm....I'm sorry...."Jane blinks back tears. "I didn't mean to do that...."

"It's okay..." Ashlyn says gently. "You guys are under a lot of stress right now."

Jane sucks in a deep breath. "I just don't know what's happening. My mom....my mom can't even pull it together to come the hospital. And she's talking crazy. She said that my father's secretary had called the house saying the police had a warrant to search my dad's office. Then she said that they searched our house. She said....." Her voice breaks. "She said that the police think that my dad did this to Emma..." She regains a little composure. "I just...I just can't see him doing that. He was a little hard on me and William growing up but it was only because he wanted to see us become successful..."

Ashlyn pulls her into a hug. "It's going to be okay."

Jane almost immediately pulls away. "There has to be an explanation for all of this. Emma was alone so had someone been watching her?" Jane looks from Ashlyn to Ali to William, who was holding Emma's hand. 

"I don't know..." Ashlyn shrugs her shoulders helplessly. 

"I mean maybe some deranged man liked the way Emma looked...she's so pretty...do you think maybe he had intended to do other things to her?" Jane practically chokes on her words but continues. "Maybe she fought him? Maybe she fought him and he did this to her. What if he is still out there? Shouldn't the police be focusing on that instead of our father?"

"Jesus Christ, Jane." William says quietly, releasing Emma's hand. "You're studying law...you know how hard it is to get a search warrant...the police have evidence... they are just not telling us."

"William, he's our father! How can you even say that?" Jane snaps.

"You know what..."William stands up, his expression hard. "I'm tired. I want to go home...like my dorm home...and I don't want to talk about this here. If you want to go back to our house and support our mother, who is more worried about our family's reputation than Emma, then you go right ahead. But you are going to have to find your own ride."

Jane looks like she has just been slapped in the face.

"I'm dead serious." William adds.

Jane stands frozen in her place.

"Figures." William turns on his heels and storms out of the room.

"William...wait..."Jane pushes past Ashlyn and goes after him.

.........................................................................................................................................................................................................  
"Hey love.." Ali grabs Emma's hand and squeezes it. What she would give to have Emma squeeze it back. 

"When are they doing the EEG?" Ashlyn can't help but stare at the machine keeping Emma alive.

"Not sure. Sometime tomorrow though. " Ali reaches out to touch Emma's face. The neurologist had been in earlier that afternoon and told Jane and William that they would be doing an EEG to check Emma's brain function. Neither Ali nor Ash asked many questions but they both knew that tomorrow was going to be either be a very good day or a very bad day. 

"Ali...I just need a distraction right now..." Ashlyn wanders over to where a remote is sitting on a small hospital table. "Do you mind if I put on the TV?"

Ali looks up at Ash with concern. "Yeah..of course you can turn on the TV."

Ash turns it on and starts flipping through the channels. Suddenly, the remote clatters to the ground.

"Ash?"

Ashlyn can do nothing but point at the TV. 

"What's wrong?" 

"Ali, you need to see this..."

Ali gets up and walks over to where Ash is standing. On the screen was a local news reporter talking about a developing story.

"Local multi-millionaire and CEO William Hall Sr. was found dead in a Beijing hotel around 8:00 AM Beijing time."


	15. Chapter 15

My dreams were almost like nightmares. There were werewolf creatures chasing after me in the deep woods. There was a downward spiraling plane that I couldn't get out of. There was the car that plunged into a lake and I couldn't reach the surface. There was a room that I was in for days with no walls and very little air-I felt like I couldn't breathe.

And then slowly, they ended.

"Oh my god...."a voice says to me. "Emma? Oh thank god...Emma..."

"Mmmm...." I try to speak but something is stuck in my throat. I raise what I think is my hand and start grabbing at it-trying to pull it out.

"No...no..sweetheart...don't do that." The voice says. "Nurse...I need help...anyone...I need help...she's awake!"

I want it out so I keep trying to pull.

"Shhhh....it's okay.....don't pull it out..." Someone grabs my hand and presses it to my side. "You need it to breathe sweetheart..."

My eyes, which are intensely blurry can only see shadows. 

"Someone....." the voice yells. "Someone needs to get in here, she's awake!"

............................................................................................................................................................................................................  
Ali and Ashlyn anxiously wait in the PICU family room. They, along with Jane, William, and Megan, had been the consistent 'family' members for the last two horrible weeks and the nursing staff looked after them as though they were an actual part of Emma's family.

"Brought you guys some coffee." Ann, a pretty redheaded nurse whom they had gotten to know well, places a few coffees in front of them. 

"When are they going to let us back in?" Ali asks anxiously. They had been kicked out almost immediately when the nursing staff realized that Emma was coming out of her coma."

"Hopefully soon. The neurologist is in with her now and I think the psychologist is coming soon... if she isn't already in there." The nurse smiles kindly. "It's not uncommon for brain trauma patients who have woken up from comas to need psychiatric medicine of some sort for the first few days after."

"Oh." Ali taps her feet nervously. 

"Can I get you anything else?" Ann asks.

"No, thanks." Ashlyn smiles. "Thanks for the coffee."

"Sure."

"William texted me a few minutes ago." Ashlyn says after she leaves. "He and Jane are on their way. Megan is on her way too."

Ali puts her head in her hands. "I take it 'mom' is not on her way?"

"Doesn't sound like it."

"Of course not."

Mr. Hall's body had arrived from China a few days ago. The family opted for a small, private funeral and burial but the media had somehow gotten a hold of the venues. Within an hour of the burial, there were pictures splashed everywhere-including the front page of the Washington Post-of the 'grieving' Hall family sans Emma. Soon after, the story broke that Mr. Hall was suspected of attempted murder of his own daughter and of selling his company's secrets to corrupt foreign officials, which most likely prompted his suicide. Less than 24 hours of the story breaking, the FBI froze all of the family's accounts with the exception of the Hall children's trust funds. Mrs. Hall, a high-profiled attorney, was advised by her firm to take a substantial leave of absence. According to William she has only left the house once-for the burial and funeral. The rest of her days have been spent hiding out in her bedroom, afraid the media camped outside her home was going to somehow take photos of her. 

"At least she calls the nursing staff twice a day for an update." Ashlyn adds dryly.

"She doesn't deserve her children." Ali says bitterly. Over the last few weeks the two of them have been able to get to know Jane and William better. Jane was standoffish at first but as things unraveled, she started to lean on them for support. Through it all, Ali and Ash came to learn that Jane was kind, smart, and focused. 

"I texted Jill and gave her an update." Ashlyn shifts in her seat. "She said to give us an update on what the neurologist says and that the whole team is thinking of her."

The team, not surprising, has supported them the last two weeks with all their hearts. Many have texted daily and others even called. And Jill found replacements for them at the England friendly with the condition that they upkeep their training regiments at home. Both girls, in turn, worked out a schedule where they switched up hospital time and training time."

"God, please let her be okay." Ali says suddenly. She had been reading where some brain trauma patients come out of a coma with no memory. 

"She will be okay..."Ashlyn reaches out for her hand. "Her EEG found brain activity...which is what we were hoping for. If she needs recovery and therapy after that, it will be okay. We can get her through this."

"Who's going to tell her about her dad?" Ali says.

"I don't know." Ashlyn squeezes her hand. "Maybe Jane. Maybe William. Maybe all of us together."  
.........................................................................................................................................................................................................  
"You can go in and see her now." The neurologist looks at Ali, Ashlyn, William, Megan, and Jane kindly. "You can ALL see her but the two person rule comes back into effect in a couple of hours."

"So, is she going to be okay?" William jumps up from his chair.

"Brain traumas are tricky." The doctor says matter-of-factly. "We have no crystal ball on how Emma's future looks. She may recover quickly, she may need a lot of time to recover, only time will tell."

"Is she talking?" William asks anxiously.

"She's making sounds." The doctor smiles. "We took out the ventilator tube because she is able to breathe on her own but it might be a while before she talks."

.........................................................................................................................................................................................................  
My head feels heavy, my eyes are a little blurry, but the shadows that I had been seeing have somehow morphed into familiar faces.

"We are all here with you." Jane's tears drip unto my hand, although I can't feel them much.

I blink. Why do my eyes feels so heavy? And where am I? Am I in the hospital?

"We love you, kiddo." William adds. He grabs my hand. It feels heavy too.

Ashlyn, Ali, and Megan don't say anything but they start crying. Why are they crying? 

"We have been waiting a long time for you to wake up." Jane smiles, brushing tears from her face.

How long have I been asleep? 

"You missed some soccer training," Ashlyn jokes even though there are tears streaming down her face. "You're going to have to make up for slacking. Extra drills for you!"

Soccer? How much soccer have I missed.

"Your friends have been calling the house almost every day." Megan adds. 

"And the girls from the soccer team, even Lindsay, keep asking for updates. They are going to be so happy when they find out you're awake." Ali reaches out to gently rub my leg.

I look around the room. Was mom here? Was dad here?

Ashlyn notices this. "Do you need anything, darlin'?" 

I close my eyes for a minute. 

"Maybe we are overwhelming her?" I hear Jane say.

"I'm not sure." Megan says.

I open them back up. I look around the room again. 

"D....a....." I try to say.

"Oh thank god..." Jane brings my hand up to her face. "She's trying to talk!"

"D...a.....d." The word feels heavy coming out of my mouth but I want it out.


	16. Chapter 16

"Why do you need to talk to her today?" Ashlyn looks at Detective Callahan in disbelief. "She has only been awake for a couple of days. She’s just barely able to form full sentences right now. Can't you give her a little more time?"

"I don't want to do this either but we need to close the case out." Detective Callahan says firmly. "We suspected her dad of doing this but we don't have 100% proof. In the slim chance that this was someone else then we need to rule it out."

"Are you going to tell her that her dad is dead?" Ashlyn asks bluntly.

"No. That needs to come from her family."

"Well so far the mom isn't stepping up to the plate." Ashlyn snipes. Emma's mother has only been to the hospital once since Emma woke up. She came in, spent about five minutes with Emma, and left. 

"I understand but we still need to talk to Emma."

"Can Ali and I be in there with her?" Ashlyn glances inside the hospital room. Emma is dozing off and Ali is perched at the end of her bed, reading a magazine. 

"Sure." Detective Callahan nods. "The hospital's social worker will be in with us and a psychologist from our unit is on her way up. She has expertise in working with young victims so Emma will be in good hands."

The word 'victim' makes Ashlyn's heart plunge. 

"Okay. Well let's get this over with." Ashlyn sucks in a deep breath. 

............................................................................................................................................................................................................  
"My name is Catherine," The psychologist, a middle-aged woman with a sweet smile, shakes my hand. "And this here is Detective Callahan. We just want to sit with you and ask you a few questions if that's okay?"

I eye them suspiciously but Ali and Ashlyn give me an encouraging nod. 

"Okay." I finally say. 

"So, I've been hearing what an amazing soccer player you are." Catherine says, taking a seat to the right of me. "I used to play in college."

"Really?" I feign interest. All the pain medicine that they have been giving me has really been making me sleepy.

"Yep. I played at University of Connecticut. Midfield"

"Huh."

"What position is your favorite?"

"Um...." It's still difficult for me to talk. "In front."

"That's where all the fast players are!" She winks at me. 

I give her a half-smile. 

"So, Emma...." She looks at me intently. "If you don't want to talk about something or if you don't want to answer a question that I ask you, then all you have to do is draw a frowny face on this piece of paper." She produces a piece of paper and a glittery pink pen. 

I reluctantly take it. 

"I will stop whenever you want me to, okay?" She adds gently.

"Okay."

"We are going to talk about the night you had your accident." She says quietly. Out of the corner of my eye, I see the detective pulling out a small notebook.

I stiffen. Ali, who is sitting at the edge of my bed, notices this and reaches out to rub my leg reassuringly. 

"Do you remember anything about that night?," Catherine asks.

I look down at the paper and pen in my hand. 

"Okay." She says gently. "Do you remember if anyone was in the house that you didn't know?"

Although they try not so show it, I can see Ashlyn and Ali tense up at this question.

"I can't...c-c-can't...remember." I say slowly. 

"Sweetheart, was there anyone in the house that you did know?"

"I...I d-d-on't know..." Tears start to well up in my eyes unexpectedly. For once, I am telling the truth. 

"So let's talk about what you do remember then." Catherine says soothingly. "Is there a sound or smell that you remember?"

I try to think as hard as I can. The more I do, however, the more I feel my heart starts to race. Why can't I remember anything?

"I'm s-s-s-o-r-r-y...."I try to hold my tears back but they start spilling down my face. 

"It's okay..."Catherine says soothingly. "Is there anything that you can remember about that night?"

I shake my head.

"Alright. Well, maybe you should get some rest and then we'll try this another day." She says kindly, pulling up my blanket closer to my face.

Suddenly, I find the words that have been rolling around in my head. "Where...where...is d-a-a-d?"

.........................................................................................................................................................................................................  
"Sometimes brain trauma patients truly don't remember what happened to them because of their injury. But sometimes the memory of the accident is repressed because it's traumatic... but it may come out much later...or it might come out slowly." The neurologist explains to Ali and Ashlyn. 

Ashlyn bites her thumbnail. "So, what do we do? The police need to close out the case."

"That I don't have an answer for." He says frankly. "If I were you, though, I would just concentrate on getting Emma well enough to get her out of here. She's going to need some PT before she leaves the hospital and afterwards too. She's eating and swallowing okay, which is an excellent sign, so she probably won't need OT. She may need speech for a while. These are all things that are going to be new to her and she's going to need your support along the way."

"She's been asking about her dad." Ali says suddenly. "And no one can give us a straight answer on when we should tell her."

"I really can't tell you when is a good time but if she's asking for him then you are not doing her any favors by hiding it from her. She probably already knows something is wrong. It might be best to stop prolonging it." He then says more gently. "Look, I know you are in a really tough position. The hospital can provide any support you need. We can have a psychologist in there, a social worker in there..."

"Actually..."Ashlyn interrupts. "I think we will do it without them. She needs to hear it from people she trusts."

.........................................................................................................................................................................................................  
Around dinnertime, Ashlyn and Ali meet with William and Jane in the hospital's cafeteria to discuss things.

"We should probably talk to mom first." Jane looks worriedly over at William.

"Seriously?" William practically slams down his cup of coffee. "She hasn't showered in like a week. There are FBI agents crawling all over our house because of dad's little affairs and she just sits there like nothing is going on. She doesn't ask them questions, she doesn't acknowledge their presence, she just...she just fucking sits there like a statue. Do you think she can even handle telling Emma that dad is dead?"

Jane looks down at her own cup of coffee. "William, I realize that we are both in over heads but yelling at me is not helping things." She is quiet but the anger in her voice is palpable. "And I realize that our family has gone to total shit..." Her voice is trembling now. "But you...me...Emma...that's what we have left...so please...just be..."her voice trails off.  
"I'm sorry." William grabs her into a tight hug. "I love you."

Ali and Ashlyn watch Jane break down in William's arms. A month ago, Jane and William had everything-great university lives, promising future careers, significant others-and now their worlds were crumbling down around them. 

"Listen..."Ashlyn says after a long bout of silence. "We are like family now. My family is in Florida so I have been looking for someone exactly like you to call my own. We are going to get you guys through this...together...like a family does. Do you hear me?"

Jane looks up from William's shoulder in surprise. 

"And the same goes for me." Ali reaches out to grab Ash's hand. "We are all in this together."

Jane starts crying-only this time it's tears of relief. 

"Thanks..."William whispers, his own eyes filling up.

"So let's go in and tell Emma." Ashlyn says firmly. "It's time she knew."

.........................................................................................................................................................................................................  
"Em?" I feel someone shake me lightly. I slowly open my eyes. It's Jane. 

"Huh?"

"We all need to talk to you about something." Jane sits down and reaches out to stroke my hair. Fortunately the stitches from my surgery are in the back of my head so I still have a majority of my hair left-or so I have been told I did.

I look at her, look at William who is awkwardly standing at the foot of my bed, look at Ali who is awkwardly standing to the left of me, look at Ashlyn who is awkwardly standing to the right of me, and back to her.

"Dad...." I manage to say. "He's....in j-j-j-ail isn't h-h-e?"

Jane puts her hands in her head. "I thought I could do this but I can't." William quickly skirts around the bed to put his hands on her shoulder.

"No, Emma." Ashlyn says, reaching over to grab my hand. "He's not in jail."

My eyes dart to the four of them again. None of them can look me in the eye.

"Wh-ere is he?" I stammer.

"Sweetheart...." Ashlyn squeezes my hand so tightly that I can barely feel my fingers. "He's dead."

.........................................................................................................................................................................................................  
My nightmares return. Only this time they seem more real. I am in the kitchen, making myself a hot cup of cocoa. The front door opens and I feel a surge of panic. Dad had already left. William had already left. Mom was gone. No one was coming over. Is it an intruder?

I carefully set down my hot cup of cocoa and peek around the kitchen corner into the hallway. It's dad. And he's talking in a language I have never heard him speak before. It almost sounds like he's speaking Chinese. He looks up, says something more, then snaps his phone shut.

"God dammit, Emma!" He screams. "Why do you have to be so nosy?"

"Dad, were you speaking Chinese?" 

"Jesus...that is none of your business!" He snaps. "Just none of your business!"

"I'm sorry..." I say, more shocked than frightened. "I just never heard you speak in a different language before."

He strides over to me, grabs my arm, drags me into the hallway, and starts shaking me. "You are never to tell anyone that I speak Chinese. Do you understand me? Do you?!"

"I don't understand...why..." I start to say but he grabs me, throws me to the ground, and smacks me head unto the floor.

"You fucking need to do what you are told!" Is the last thing I hear.

.......................................................................................................................................................................................................  
"NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!" Emma starts thrashing around in the bed, which startles Ali, who had not drifted off to sleep yet..

"Em......" Ali fumbles out of the pullout bed and does her best to reach her.

"NO...NO...NO...." Emma is now sitting up and trying to pull out her IV.

"Shhhhhhh......sweetheart.....shhhhhh....."Ali grabs Emma's wrists. "You're okay. You're okay."

"He...he....is......" Emma looks wildly around the room. 

"He is 'what', sweetheart?" Ali holds her wrists tightly together. Even through the darkness she can see Emma's heart pounding through her medical gown. 

"Is everything alright?" A nurse bursts through the doors and flips on the light.

"Yeah, I think she's having a night terror." Ali says quickly. "She's had them before."

"He....he..." Emma tries to pull her wrists away.

"Sweetheart, I can't let go until you stop trying to pull your IV out...." Ali says calmly.

"But...he....he...is....kill..ing m-m-m-me...."Emma pleads."P-l-l-ease help me...." Emma is clearly terrified.

Ali releases her wrists and wraps Emma in her arms. The nurse, realizing that this was a private moment, quietly shuts off the light, and leaves the room.

"Shhhhhhh....."Ali holds her so tightly that she's afraid she's going to suffocate her.

"Oh.....god...."Emma sobs."My....h-ead...."

Ali, at this moment, wishes she had the magical power to take it all away. All the bruises. All the broken bones. All the hurt. Everything.

"Emma...." Ali whispers softly. "Listen to me. I am never going to let anyone hurt you ever again. Did you hear me?"

Emma's sobs subside a bit.

"When you get out of this hospital. You are going to come live with me. I don't know how we are going to make it work but we are going to make it work." Ali promises quietly, stroking the back of Emma's hair with one hand. "I have always wanted to be a mom and I can't think of a little girl that is more perfect than you. Do you understand what I am saying?"

Emma goes limp in Ali's arms.

"For now though, I want you to try to get some sleep." Ali carefully lays her back down on the bed. 

"Ali....."Emma whispers.

"Yes?"

"H-o-l-d me." Emma reaches out for Ali's arms. "I'm so sc-sc-ared."

Emma finally admitting that she was scared nearly makes Ali's heart melt. She lays down beside her and wraps both arms around her. "Is that better?"

Emma silently nods. For the first time in a very, very long time, she felt safe.


	17. Chapter 17

My mom decides to pay me a visit the day before I am to be released from the hospital. 

"Hi." She says, looking very uncomfortable at my bedside. 

"Hi." I turn off the TV.

"So, what were you watching?" She asks. I can tell she's trying her best to make small talk-probably the one thing in this world that she is terrible at.

"Nothing special." I eye her carefully. She looks like she always has-black suit, perfect hair, pearls. I suppose it's because she went back to work a few days ago. William and Jane told me that her firm had put pressure on the FBI to unfreeze our money. When they did, her firm asked her to come back to work.

"So, you get out of here tomorrow, eh?" She half-smiles.

"Yep." 

"The doctor said that you will be in therapy for a few months but should be as good as new." 

"Mom, what are you doing here?" I ignore her last comment altogether. 

She looks shocked. I supposed it's because she has never heard me talk back to her before.

"Well, um, there is something that I need to talk to you about." She shifts in her chair uncomfortable.

"If it's about boarding s-s-c-hool.." Some words are still hard for me to get out, especially when I get frustrated. "Then I already k-k-now. William and Jane told me." 

She looks down at her hands, her face reddening slightly.

"I was meaning to talk to you about that." She finally says. "I thought it would be easier for you to start at a fresh new school."

"Don't you mean 'easier' for y-you?" I stare down at the remote by my side as anger bubbles up inside me. "B-b-because just about everyone in my c-c-lass has come to see me. They w-w-want to know when I'm c-c-c-oming back."

"You don't have to go to boarding school, sweetheart. I just thought it would be easier for you after...." Her voice trails off.

"G-g-ood." I snap. "Because I don't w-w-want to go."

"Okay. You don't have to go." She says quickly.

Neither one of us say anything for several minutes. 

"I need to talk to you about something important, Emma." She finally says in an unusually quiet tone. 

"What?" I can't even look at her.

"The FBI wants to talk to you." 

"W-why? They already c-c-ame to t-talk and I d-d-on't remember anything."

"That was the police. The FBI is different. And the FBI wants to know if you overheard anything the night this little incident happened. Apparently Daddy made a few phone calls to China not too long before you were found." 

"Little in-c-ident?" I spat. 

"Emma, please, I didn't mean it like that." She reaches out to grab my hand but I yank it away. "This is...this all...has been very difficult for me. But no matter what Daddy did...we have to protect him. We have to protect this family. So, if you do remember anything...please...please don't tell the FBI. I am begging you not to make this worse."

"Protect h-him?" I can barely get the words out. "You are s-s-supposed to p-p-protect me." 

"Honey, I do protect you. I am protecting you." Mom says quickly. 

"No. NO you're not!" I can feel myself shouting. "You d-d-idn't protect me that night. Or all t-t-he times before. Did y-y-you even know w-w-hat he was doing to me?"

She looks like someone slapped her hard across the face. "What are you talking about?"

"Of course y-y-ou don't k-k-ow because you...you were never there!" I scream. "Y-y-you let this happen! Y-y-y-ou let this happen!"

"Emma, it's okay. " Ashlyn, who I didn't even realize was standing in the doorway, says soothingly. 

"Do you...do y-y-ou know how much I hate you?!" I ignore her, look my mom straight in the eye, and scream. "I HATE you!"

"Emma!" Ashlyn says in surprise.

"Emma..."Mom stands up and grabs my shoulders. "Your dad had all these secrets that he hid. I don't know who he was. And I don't know what he did. And I am so...."Large tears well up in her eyes.

"G-get off me..." I slap her hands away. "I d-don't want you touching me! Didn't you hear w-w-w-hat I said? I HATE YOU! I FUCKING hate you!"

Moms hands drop to her side, tears spilling down unto her face. "Emma, I know you must be really angry but..."

"Angry? What m-m-om doesn't come to the hospital..." I take my hand and whack it across the hospital table that is across my lap. Magazines...ginger ale...Jello.... goes flying into the air. All the anger, all the frustration, all the hurt come flying out with them. "I want you...I w-w-want you to g-g-o!"

"Emma, if you would just let me explain to you..."Mom sobs. 

"OUT!" I scream, pounding the table with my fist. "OUT! OUT! OUT!"

.........................................................................................................................................................................................................  
"I know I have been a terrible mother to Emma." Mrs. Hall looks miserably down into her Styrofoam cup of coffee. "When William and Jane were younger, I stopped practicing law. I stayed home with them until William went to kindergarten. When his first day of kindergarten came around, I went back to work. I joked that it was both our first day of school."

Ashlyn takes a sip of her own coffee. She was surprised to see Mrs. Hall opening up.

"I got pregnant with Emma by accident." Mrs. Hall says matter-of-factly. "I didn't want any more children. I had my boy, my girl, my career, and a new baby was going to change all of that. I would be back to changing diapers and playgroups."

Ashlyn traces the rim of her coffee cup. 

"The pregnancy was terrible. I ended up on bedrest for several weeks and then Emma still came two months early." Mrs. Hall's voice cracks. "She had all of these tubes hooked up to her for so long...I was afraid to touch her or hold her...so I didn't. I just left it up to the nurses to hold her. By the time we brought her home, Emma didn't know me. Every time I did try to hold her, she cried. Every time I changed her, she cried. Every time, I tried to rock her, she cried. I finally decided to get a nanny and continue working at the firm."

Ashlyn reaches out to grab Mrs. Hall's hand. 

"I made partner..." Mrs. Hall's eyes fill up with tears again. "He made CEO. We had everything we wanted...house...careers...powerful friends...but..." She squeezes Ashlyn's hand.

"It's okay." Ashlyn squeezes it back.

"She was right." Mrs. Hall looks straight into Ash's eyes. "About everything.

Ash doesn't say anything.

"I tried so many times to come to the hospital..." She continues. "But it was like someone had turned back the clocks and she was a newborn, fighting for her life again. I didn't know what to do."

Ash looks on in sympathy. Finally, things were starting to make a sense in regards to her behavior. It didn't excuse it, of course, but it made Mrs. Hall seem a little more human. 

"The worst part of all..." Mrs. Hall starts to sob. "Is that I didn't know..." 

"Know what?" Ashlyn gently pries.

"I didn't know he was hurting her.." Mrs. Hall whispers through her tears. "But when the detectives showed me his shirt...showed me his shirt with blood all over it...I knew he was the one who h-h-urt her." 

This makes Ashlyn's stomach lurch. 

"How could I have not known?" Mrs. Hall's voice takes on some urgency. "What kind of mother doesn't know?"

Ashlyn doesn't say anything but continues to hold her hand.

"Now, Emma hates me. And I don't have anyone to blame but myself."

.........................................................................................................................................................................................................  
Ali had been training with her trainer when Ash's text came in.

GET TO THE HOSPITAL WHEN YOU CAN. EMMA LOST IT ON HER MOTHER.

Ali, after quickly showering, makes her way back to the hospital, only to find Emma sleeping. When she does finally wake up it's almost nine o'clock at night.

"Hey sleepyhead." Ali lays down the magazine she had been reading and reaches over to stroke Emma's cheek. 

Emma half-smiles. "Hey."

"So, you're getting sprung tomorrow. " Ali smiles. "Any big plans?"

Emma shakes her head. 

"I have to go to Portugal in a few days but I think we can squeeze in a little homecoming celebration." Ali brushes back a damp piece of hair from Emma's forehead. "What do you think? Cupcakes and a movie?"

Emma, to Ali's surprise, tears up.

"Hey...what's wrong? We don't have to have cupcakes." Ali tries to make her voice sound light. Ashlyn had briefed her before she had come up so she knew everything that Emma had said to her mother. 

"Ali..."Emma says carefully. "Do you want me?"

Ali looks at Emma in surprise. A few weeks ago she had told Emma that she could come live with her but Emma hadn't mentioned anything since.

"What do you mean, Em?" 

"Do you w-w-want me as your little girl?" Emma looks at her with serious eyes. "Or a little sister? I'm really not that p-p-picky."

Ali quickly rises up from her chair, climbs into bed with Emma, and puts her arm around her. "Of course I want you in any capacity."

"I d-d-on't want to go to b-b-oarding school." Emma says, wiping a tear that threatens to fall. "But I c-c-can't go home." 

"I know."

"I s-said a lot of mean things to m-m-om." Emma admits. 

"I know." Ali squeezes her shoulder. 

"I don't hate her." Emma says quietly. "B-b-ut I don't want to go home. I c-cant go home."

"It's okay, Emma. It's really okay." Ali whispers into her hair. "You've been through a lot and if you don't want to go home, you don't have to."

"W-what if she doesn't let me go?" Emma says suddenly. 

"I don't know. We are just going have to talk to her together." Ali's arm protectively tightens around Emma's shoulder. The thought of sending her back into that cold, unloving environment after everything Emma has been through makes her want to vomit.


	18. Chapter 18

The morning that Emma is to be released, Ali and Ashlyn work out with their trainers. Afterwards, they grab a cup of coffee at a small shop near the hospital.

"I know your heart is in the right place..." Ash says after a while. "But how do you think you are going to be able to handle the National team's schedule, Washington Spirit's schedule, your PR schedule, and Emma?" 

"Well....." Ali sets down her coffee. "William, Jane, and I were talking. We think this can be a group effort."

"O-kay....." Ashlyn looks at her expectantly. "What kind of 'group effort' are we talking?"

"Jane is in the process of transferring to Georgetown Law. She will most likely start in the fall and plans on staying in D.C. until Emma graduates high school." Ali explains. "William has decided that he too will stay in D.C. after he graduates from Georgetown until Emma is out of high school. Sooooo......." She stops and looks at Ashlyn sheepishly.

"Oh god..." Ashlyn shakes her head. "I've seen this look before. And it's your 'I have an insane idea' look."

"Just hear me out.." Ali holds up her palm to stop Ashlyn from going any further. "Jane, William, and I are going to find some sort of townhouse in between the District and McLean so that it will be easy to get Emma to school. We are all going to live together and keep Megan on as Emma's nanny to fill in the gaps."

Ashlyn leans back in her chair. It's hard for her to digest the idea that six months ago, Ali was a carefree, international footballer with no ties holding her down and now she was talking about living with practically an entire family.

"You think it's weird, don't you?" Ali tries to mask the hurt in her voice but it's palpable. 

Ashlyn sucks in a breath. On one hand, it's crazy for Ali to want to do this, on the other hand, Ali would be crazy not to do this. Emma can't go back to a place where she was nearly killed. And she certainly can't go back to a mother who has no idea of how to raise her.

"I don't think it's weird at all. " Ash finally says. 

Ali looks relieved. "You don't?"

"No, I don't." Ashlyn says firmly. "I have seen what happens to kids when they come from messed up homes. Emma is a good kid with a good head on her shoulders. She just needs someone to believe in her and that someone is you. So, if this is what you think is going to work then I fully support you."

"Really?" Ali blinks back tears.

"Really." Ashlyn grabs her hand. "I just have one question, though."

"Okay." Ali almost withdraws her hand out of fear. "Shoot."

"Do you think there are five bedroom townhouses available?" 

It takes a moment for Ali to realize what Ash was saying. When she does, she reaches across the table and hugs her. "You seriously want to help in all of this?"

"I meant what I said a while ago." Ashlyn shrugs. "I don't have family here. You are my best friend and my family. Now, Emma, William, and Jane are too. We all need each other in some capacity and right now they need us like they have probably never need people before."

"So, we need to talk to Emma's mom." Ali sits back down in her chair. "She knows that Emma doesn't want to go back home but she doesn't know that she Emma has no intentions of living with her."

Ashlyn lets out a low whistle. She wasn't 100% convinced that Mrs. Hall was going to let Emma go regardless of whether she actually wanted to be a parent to Emma.

.........................................................................................................................................................................................................  
"So you are going to take a couple more weeks off of school and then I want you back in my office at the end of the month to revaluate. If things look good, I will clear you. " The neurologist pats my leg. "And I want you to take it easy. No overdoing it even though you may want to."

I nod. 

"Do any of you have any questions for me?" The doctor glances around the room at Ashlyn, Ali, William, Jane, and Megan. Mom, which came as a surprise to no one, couldn't get out of work. 

"How long will she need PT and OT for?" William speaks up. 

"That is going to depend entirely on PT and OT. Emma has made a nice recovery thus far considering she had brain trauma but it's hard to say how the next few months are going to fall out." He says matter-of-factly.

I fiddle with the handle of my duffle bag. It's a bit weird to be leaving the hospital. I'm not sad, of course, but so many things have changed in so little time. I'm not sure if I'm ready for all of the changes.

"Emma? Do you have any questions?" The doctor smiles at me. 

I shake my head. 

"Okay then. " He says. "I will work with the attending to get your paperwork in order so we can send you home."  
.........................................................................................................................................................................................................  
Everyone had decided beforehand to take Emma directly back to Ali's place. Both the hospital's social worker and child psychologist had agreed that bringing Emma home might conjure up feelings that Emma wasn't strong enough to handle yet. This was something that was expressed to Emma's mother over the phone and she evidently decided it was okay. 

When they get to Ali's place, everyone crowds around Emma as though she is a wounded animal. This makes her noticeably uneasy so Jane, William, and Megan eventually decide to beg off. 

"Jane is going to take you to PT in the morning." William kneels down to where Emma is lying on the couch. "And I am going to come see you tomorrow after all my classes."

"Love you." Jane leans over and kisses her forehead. "Call me if you need anything-day or night."

Emma nods.

"The same goes for me." Megan adds, tapping Emma's foot with a gentle hand. "And I will check in with you tomorrow afternoon too."

Emma leans back on the pillow that Ali had set out for her. Her head had a dull ache to it-nothing major-but it was making her sleepy. 

"Will call you guys later." Ali assures them as William opens the door to leave. 

"Mom?!" William says suddenly. "What are you doing here?" 

Ali and Ashlyn both poke their head around to see Mrs. Hall standing on the other side of the door. 

........................................................................................................................................................................................................  
"I know the psychologist and whoever that other person was..." Mrs. Hall begins, sitting primly in Ali's kitchen chair.

"The social worker?" Ashlyn interrupts.

"Yes, the social worker." Mrs. Hall forces a smile. "Well the pair of them told me that Emma is better off coming back here but my house is Emma's home. It's where she has grown up. It's what she knows."

Ashlyn glances over at Ali, whose face has visibly reddened. If she didn't get Mrs. Hall out of here soon, Ali was going to explode. 

"She's had a lot of changes in the last several weeks and I just think that if she comes home, she can get back into her routine." Mrs. Hall continues.

"Mrs. Hall, I am not trying to be a jerk but Emma is not going to get back into her routine anytime soon." Ashlyn says candidly. "She needs OT, she need PT, she needs counseling. All of this stuff has been set up and organized. Why don't you give her a few weeks to see how things go?"

Mrs. Hall's face hardens. "I realize that you have done a lot for my daughter but she is MY daughter. And I will not be punished for what my husband did. Her place is with me, in OUR home."

Ali stands up, her face twisted in so much anger that she is barely recognizable. "Do you realize that Emma has night terrors? In the middle of the night, she wakes up, screaming and TERRIFIED. Have you gone to her when she has these terrors? Have you comforted her, told her it was going to be okay?" NO! You haven't. Did you pay attention enough to her to know that something was wrong? NO! You didn't. Did you once stop thinking about your own insecurities and go to her in the hospital when she really needed you? NO! You didn't!" Her voices begins to audibly shake. "AND...so...yes... you should be punished for what your husband did." 

"How dare you judge me!" Mrs. Hall points an index finger at Ali. "You know nothing about me or my family. You think you do but you don't."

"You let him beat her right in YOUR house. He almost killed her in YOUR house. As far as I am concerned, I don't need to know anything else." Ali fires back.

"I didn't know! For God's sake, I didn't know!" Mrs. Hall shrills. "It's not my fault!"

Ali gets up in Mrs. Hall's face and slams her hands on the kitchen table. "Have you ever thought about what would have happened if she hadn't been able to dial 911? Have you? Because I have!"

The loud slam of the bathroom door brings both women back to reality. Emma. Emma had been in the other room and she had heard all of it.

.........................................................................................................................................................................................................  
"Emma, honey, please open the door." Ali begs. It's been a half a hour and Emma hasn't budged from the bathroom.

"I got this." Ashlyn wedges herself between Ali and the bathroom door. She quickly inserts a pin into the lock, jiggles it a few times, and then slowly opens the door. 

Ali quickly pushes past her. Emma, her tiny body curled up on the floor, looks up in surprise. Her face is wet with tears, her eyes practically swollen shut from crying.

"I'm so sorry..." Ali murmurs, sitting down beside Emma "I'm so...so...sorry." 

Ashlyn takes a seat on the edge of the bathtub as Ali gently puts Emma's head into her lap. 

"I lost my temper and I shouldn't have." Ali carefully strokes Emma's hair, hoping she won't brush her hand away. 

"We all said things we shouldn't have." Ashlyn adds.

Emma lays in Ali's lap for a very long time, saying nothing,

"I r-r-r-emember what happened." She finally stammers, lifting her head from Ali's lap. "He did t-t-try to k-k-ill me."

........................................................................................................................................................................................................  
Ali and Ashlyn later find themselves sitting on the couch in the dark, staring at nothing in particular. 

:"Do you want some tea?" Ashlyn turns to Ali.

"No, thanks." Ali brushes her hair back with a shaky hand. 

"All of this time..." Ashlyn says quietly in the darkness. "All this time, we wanted her to confirm it. And when she finally does, we wish she hadn't."

Ali looks over at Ashlyn. "I know."

"How is she supposed to get past all of this?" Ashlyn looks at Ali earnestly. "How does a child get past their own parent trying to kill them?"

Ali shakes her head helplessly. "I don't know. But by her mother agreeing to let us have her for at least a year, she might have a chance."

"I hope you are right."


	19. Chapter 19

I was cleared to go back to school a month after coming home from the hospital. At first, I was really nervous about going back. Everyone knew about my dad's relationship with corrupt Chinese officials because of all the media attention. What they didn't know, however, was that my father had tried to kill me. Fortunately, the FBI had felt it was unnecessary for me to go through further trauma so they leaked to the media that the attack had been related to my dad's business dealing. 

Everyone at school has been surprisingly great. I guess the headmaster of the lower school had had an assembly before I came back. All my classmates were told not to ask me questions or talk about what had happened unless I engaged first. And, so far, no one has even though I know most are curious as to why I am no longer living with my mother. Even Lindsay, the school's biggest gossip, has been respectful. The only time she has talked to me was to ask if I needed catching up on pre-algebra. 

In between their caps in Portugal and Mexico, Ali and Ash find a four bedroom townhouse to rent in Old Town Alexandria. Even though it's four bedrooms, we turn the furnished basement into two bedrooms with a common room-one for William and one for Megan when she sleeps over. Jane, having deferred a semester, paints the entire downstairs in bright, beautiful colors and by the time Ali and Ash get back the place starts looking like a real home. 

The day after they return from Mexico, Ash and Ali move their stuff in. 

"Holy shit, Al...." Ashlyn exclaims as she struggles with a large box in the large living room adjacent to the kitchen. "What the hell is in this?"

"Shoes." Ali grins as she unwraps a plate.

"Figures." She wanders off towards the stairway to the second floor. 

"Emma, you have been doing a lot, why don't you lay down for a little bit?" Ali glances over to where I am carefully stacking a group of Ali's glasses.

"I'm fine." I smile even though a nap sounds perfect. Part of the recovery process, I have been told, is fighting exhaustion. But even though I am tired, I don't want Ali and Ashlyn to think that I am some sort of charity case who won't help out around the house. 

"So how's therapy going?" Ali got in late last night so we haven't had much chance to talk. 

"Which one?" I force a laugh.

"Any of it." Ali stops to look at me. I can tell she's worried about me. I know that William keeps her informed while she's away, Which means she knows that my mom is taking me moving out really hard. Last week, I fielded probably more than a dozen guilty phone call and one rather nasty text about how I am choosing practically strangers over her.

"It's o-k-kay." I shrug. The hardest part for me is OT. My speech is still delayed and I get really frustrated because I know what I want to say, I just can't get it out fast enough.

"William says that PT is going great. That you might even be on the soccer field by summer." Ali places a plate atop another plate. 

"Yeah." I nod. Soccer is going to be the only thing that I will probably be able to handle the rest of this year. The other stuff, ballet, tennis, music, will have to be put off for a while. The doctor, PT, OT don't want me overdoing it.

"Do you like your other therapist?" Ali asks carefully. 

I bite my lip. The "other" therapist is a child psychologist who has experience in dealing with kids like me-kids who have experienced very traumatic situations. I've been to her about twice a week and so far it's just been a lot of games. Like real games. I think she thinks the way to get me to open up is through a game of Monopoly-which I hate.

"She's o-o-kay." I say this as my phone dings. I look over, realize it's a text from my mom, and pick it up. 

WILLIAM SAYS ALI AND ASHLYN ARE MOVING IN TODAY. I KNOW YOU WILL MAKE A REALLY CUTE FAMILY.

"You okay, Em?" Ali presses gently. 

"Um...." I suck in a deep breath. "I t-t-think I w-w-ill take that n-n-ap."

........................................................................................................................................................................................................  
I lay down on my bed and roll over to my side. My entire life, my mother has ignored me. When I was little, I used to get so excited when she would come home. I would run to the door, open my arms, and practically beg to be hugged, lifted up, or something. But most of the time she was so distracted that she didn't even notice I was there. 

At one point I decided that I could get her attention by excelling at everything I did-ballet, horse riding, music, sports. But she never showed up to anything. And if she did, she was always slipping out to take a phone call. I remember watching her in the middle of my Nutcracker performance when I was 10, looking down at her phone, then disappearing out through a side door, only to return at our curtain call. 

I would think that by moving out, I would be doing a favor. She could work as much as she wants without giving me any thought what-so-ever. So, why is she suddenly so interested in having me home?  
.........................................................................................................................................................................................................  
I awaken a few hours later to the sounds of someone shouting. The voices are familiar so I quietly open my door.

"She is MY daughter! And this NONSENSE has gone on for too long. I thought that if I let her have her way for a while she would come to her senses but this whole situation is ridiculous. She is coming home with me TONIGHT!"

I quickly throw on a sweatshirt and pad down the stairs. As I near the living room I can hear Ash say, "Look, I know you're upset but this is the best thing for Emma right now. And we are not the only people that know this."

"Do you know how weird this looks to other people?" I hear her shrill.

I walk in, my face suddenly burning.

"S-so this is w-w-what..." I pause, trying hard to get my words out. "it is...about. You only w-w-w-ant me home b-b-because it it l-l-looks bad to other p-p-p-eople?"

The look on her face confirms my suspicion. 

"That is ridiculous Emma Ann Hall." She hisses. "I want you to march up to your room and get your stuff."

Ali, William, Jane, and Ashlyn stand frozen in their spots. I, on the other hand, have something to say. 

"Answer m-m-me." My voice grows louder. 

"I refuse to answer that question. I am your mother and you will do what I say." She crosses the room to where I am at, her face furious. 

"No. I WON'T." I look up at her in sheer disgust. "I am d-d-done being y-y-your daughter."

Before I know what is happening, her hand reaches out to slap me hard across my face.

Ashlyn steps in front of me and grabs my mother's wrist. 

"I think you need to leave." Ashlyn says with as much calmness as she can muster. 

"You forget that I am a lawyer." Mom spats. "You have no legal rights to Emma. I let her live here out of the goodness of my heart but she is not legally yours. She is mine and she has to do what I tell her to do."

"Mom, Emma is not a commodity that you can use as a pawn." William shakes his hand in disgust. "And you have been drinking. And driving. Have you lost your mind?"

"I have not lost my mind!" Mom yanks her wrist out of Ashlyn's grasp. "My whole life has fallen apart because of HER! My husband killed himself because of HER! I nearly lost everything because of HER!" She screams so loud that it vibrates my chest. Ali, stunned, protectively me pulls me into her side as if to shield me somehow from all of this. Instead, I break away and step in between Ashlyn and my mom.

"Let m-m-me go, mom." I say quietly. "B-b-b-ecause if y-y-you don't, I will t-t-t-ell the truth...to everyone."

She takes a step back as though I have just slapped HER face.

"And I r-r-r-emember EVERYTHING." I add defiantly.

Ashlyn pulls me into a tight hug from behind. I grab her arms with my hands, squeeze them tightly for strength.

"I'm going to call you a cab." William says quietly. "You can pick up your car tomorrow."

"Well...well...can't you drive me home?" She looks at him imploringly, tears forming in her eyes.

"Nope." He shakes his head. "I'm done with you too. And if you don't give Emma up, I will tell the judge about everything I saw. All the bruises, the broken ribs, the cut on her head. Everything."

Ashlyn hugs me closer as mom looks to Jane. "Jane?"

"Sorry, mom." Jane shakes her head sadly. "I'm with Emma."

Mom stands in the middle of us like a wounded animal. A part of me feels bad for her but another part feels relieved that I won't have to go home with her. "I can get my own cab, thank you." She finally whispers. 

"Give me your keys first." William holds out his hand.

"William!" She looks appalled by his request. "Don't you trust me?"

"Not any more." He says matter-of-factly.

Tears spilling down her face, she digs through her Chanel purse. When she finally finds them, she throws them on the ground.

"I will give you what you want." She slurs slightly. "But just so you know, you are no longer welcome in MY house. ANY of you. AND as far as money goes, you are all cut off. All three of you." 

"You forget that I am studying to be a lawyer." Jane interjects evenly. This, makes mom spin around.

"And what is that supposed to mean?" 

"It means I saw this coming and planned ahead." Jane says sharply. "Each of have $20 million dollar trusts that Grandad set us up with when were born. Trusts that used to have you and dad as Trustees. Emphasis on 'used to'...... because with Grandad's help, I recently became trustee of Emma's trusts and Grandad became trustees of William's and I's. Grandad is going to continue adding a million dollars to each trust every year until we are fifty years old so go ahead and cut us off. Oh, one more thing, Grandad has it arranged where $50,000 is going to be added each year for our education purposes so no need to worry about Emma's school tuition." 

Mom looks stunned.

"Oh, didn't think any of us knew about these trusts?" Jane adds angrily. "And while we are on the subject, I'm sure the FBI would be interested to know that you and dad were both pulling out money from these trusts on a regular basis. $500,000 here...$500,000 there. Which means that you knew he was doing some nasty things with the Chinese all along or at least you suspected it. To blame Emma, your own child for any of this mess is sick. He took the cowardly way out with no one to blame but himself. And you, of all people, helped him do this."

Ashlyn's arms tighten around me as I start to cry. Ali, looking as shocked as everyone else, reaches out to grab my hand.

"It's okay, Emma." Ali whispers to me. 

"Are you done?" Mom lifts up her chin defiantly.

"I'm done." Jane glances over to William. "William, would you like to add something?"

William lowers his head slightly. "Nope."

"I didn't know he was doing something illegal." Mom says suddenly. "He told me we were having money problems and that he needed to borrow off your trusts. It was the first time he ever needed money so I believed him."

"Mom, this whole thing is fucked up." William waves his hand dismissively. "Dad did what he did. You did what you did. But the same problem exists...neither one of you deserves us. Any of us. To have you out of our lives is not a gigantic deal for me or Jane or Emma...especially Emma. Hell, Ali has been more of a mother to Emma the last several months than you were her whole life."

"How dare you! You little shit!" Mom lunges at William. Ashlyn, out of reflex, lets go of me and grabs mom from behind. 

"I think we need to call the police." Jane looks over at Ali who has pulled me out of the way. All nods in agreement.

.........................................................................................................................................................................................................  
"The judge is going to have to decide whether to grant a restraining order." The police officer looks at us kindly. "And each one of you is going to have to petition for a restraining order against her."

"Emma, do you understand what all of this means?" Ali, her arm draped protectively around my neck, asks me gently. 

I nod.

"The judge is most likely going to be familiar with your family." The police officer says candidly. "Being who your mom is and who your dad was, there probably isn't a judge in the city who doesn't know who you are. So just be prepared for this."

"Is she g-g-going to go to jail?" I look worriedly in the direction of the living room's front window where mom is outside speaking to police officers.

"No, sweetie, I don't think she is going to jail." Ali kisses the top of my hair. "I think they are just going to take her home."

"If she had physically touched you then we could put her in jail." The police officer says in a serious tone.

"Thanks officers for everything." Ashlyn stands up with William. "We hated to bother you but were afraid things would escalate more."

"The family has been through a lot." The police officer adds sympathetically. "Sometimes it takes a while to work through situations like this. Your mom has never been in trouble with the law before so I think she is acting out of character because of the extreme stress she has been under."

I lower my head. 

"Hey..."Ali whispers, tightening her arm around my neck. "None of this is your fault. So don't think for a minute that you caused any of this?"

I choke back some tears that had been forming in throat.

"It's okay." She pulls me into her. "We are going to get through this. Okay?" 

Part of me believes her but another part of me thinks that I will never have the opportunity to lead a normal life.


	20. Chapter 20

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> This is going to be the last chapter for this installment but I plan on doing another part series involving Emma when she is 16 years old. It will show how her life has evolved after her abuse, dad dying, and coming to live with Ali and Ashlyn.

The day begins as a typical balmy summer day in D.C. By mid-afternoon, the sun is furiously beating down on the city but there is something that I am determined to do. 

"You sure you are okay doing this?" Ali looks at me intently, her tanned forehead beaded with sweat. 

"I need t-to do this." With the help of my speech therapist I am nearly back to where I was before my "accident." This is what I call it because I just can't bring myself to utter the truth. 

"We are just going to be a few feet away, okay?" Ashlyn reassures me.

I nod and walk to where my dad's grave is. My mother couldn't bring herself to do a headstone so my grandfather purchased one for him. Although he wasn't happy about what his son did while he was on earth, he didn't think it was right not to give him a headstone.

"Hi dad." I look down at the lilies in my hand. "I brought you some lilies. Father O'Brien, the priest at my new church, said that lilies are used when someone dies because they are a symbol that innocence is restored at death."

I pause and look up at his headstone. It feels weird yet surprisingly comforting to be able to speak freely. 

"You may have not done the right things on Earth. Especially w-w-when it came to me." I am surprised by how strong my voice is. "But in order for me to move forward I have to forgive you. I can't l-live my life and pursue my dreams if I continue to hate you."

I pause, not knowing exactly how to say the next thing I need to say. "You know, I have gone most of my life feeling like I wasn't loved. And I did everything for you to get me to love you. But the truth is, you didn't want me. And Mom doesn't want me. I have realized, though, after a lot of hours in therapy, that this is your loss not mine. You, I don't think, deserved me as your daughter." 

I lean over and set the lilies on the edge of his grave. "So, I guess I don't really have much else to say except that I hope you have found peace in heaven as I have found peace here. And that I may not like what you did to me but I forgive you for it."

I look at the etching on the headstone, William Andrew Hall, and reach out to trace it with my finger. As I do, a dragonfly does a full circle around his grave. It makes a soft buzzing sound before landing an inch away from my finger. This, as weird as it may sound, is my sign that dad has gotten his message. 

"Thanks for that dad." I smile as the dragonfly disappears into flight. "I will come back and see you again soon."

I came to say what I needed to say so I quickly turn away and slowly walk to where Ashlyn and Ali are standing. 

"You okay, Em?" Ash asks carefully as I stop in front of them.

"Yeah. I think I am." I say, grabbing her hand. "But I could probably use some ice cream."

Ali smiles. "I think we can make that work.

I smile, grabbing her hand. And as we walk out of the cemetery together, the dragonfly reappears. He swirls around my head then lands on my shoulder.

"Whoa!" Ali, who doesn't like any kind of insect, shrieks.

"Ali, it's just a dragonfly." Ashlyn rolls her eyes.

"No....I think he is more than that." I smile.


End file.
